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1851620 

REYNOLDS HISTORT'CM. 
GENEALOOY COLLECTION 



5 yyo 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE, 

DclfaereB on t!ie iSti) ct October, 1877, at tfre 

CELEBRATION 

OF THE 

TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 

OF THE 

Ref o r med Dutch Church 

OF NEW UTRECHT, L. L, 

By Rev. David S. Sutphen, 

PASTOR OF THE CHURCH ; 

AND AN 

HISTORICAL ADDRESS, 

By Hon. Teunis G, Bergen. 

t ' WITH an afpendix, 

CONTAINING THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO HAVE SEEN ELDERS AND DEACONS. 

- 

PUBLISHED UNDER TIIE DIRECTION OF THE CONSISTORY, 

FOR FRIVATK CIRCULATION. 



1877. 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2015 



https://archive.org/details/historicaldiscouOOsutp 



I 



INTRODUCTION. 



THURSDAY, October iSth, 1877, was the day set apart for the celebration of the 
Two Hundredth Anniversary of the organization of the Reformed 
Dutch Church of New Utreciit. The day was bright and cheerful. The 
church had been gracefully decorated by the young people, with fresh evergreens 
wrought in wreaths and trained in festoons upon the galleries and walls. Flowers 
appeared among the evergreens, and greatly heightened their effect. Numerous 
flags waved from every part of the auditorium. The pulpit, and all the space about it, 
were radiant with rare hot-house plants and cut flowers. Vines and flowers twined 
about the chandeliers. A gilt dove, which formerly suimounted* the ' 'sounding- 
board over the pulpit in the first church, and which has been preserved by Mr. 
John Lott, was on the reading-desk. Near it lay a Dutch Bible, musty with the 
mould of two centuries. Curious tablets, indicating the hymns that were sung in 
the olden times, were suspended at either side of the pulpit. An hour-glass, 
wherewith the preachers, in days long gone by, regulated their discourses, now in 
the possession of Mr. R. Benson, and a black velvet pouch in which the deacons 
took their collections, were on the platform. A large number of people from this 
and the adjoining towns filled the edifice. Many clergymen were present. On 
each side of the pulpit were Sabbath-school banners — one bearing the date of 1826. 

The morning exercises, at which the pastor presided, commenced at 10.15 A. M. 
by a voluntary on the organ by Mr. John Currie, the organist of the church, and 
the singing by the whole congregation of the Long Metre Doxology, “Praise God, 
from whom all blessings flow.” This was followed by the reading of the Ten Com- 
mandments in Dutch, by Hon. Teunis G. Bergen, from the Bible in use in the 
first church, printed in 1672. A portion of Scripture was read also from the Bible 
first used in the new church, by Rev. George S. Bishof, D. D., of Orange N. J. ; 
and Rev. William H. De Hart, of Jamaica, L. I., offered prayer. The 559th 
hymn, “I love Thy kingdom, Lord,” was sung; after which the historical dis- 
course contained in' the following pages was delivered by the pastor. The sermon 
was followed by the 924th hymn, “Our God our help in ages past,” which was 
sung by the whole congregation, led by the chorister, without the organ. After 
the hymn, Rev. C. L. Wells made an address. “ He presented the congratula- 
tions of the venerable church of Flatbush, and endeavored to lead the audience to 
resolve to make some suitable memorial of the day, and suggested that they who 
had received and inherited so many blessings through the gospel of Christ, might 
with great propriety now send that gospel to those who are without it.” The Apos- 
tolic benediction was pronounced by Rev. A. P. Stockwell, of Gravesend. 



INTRODUCTION. 



v 



Rev. Charles H. Pool said: “ Child of the Church!” I feel proud of the 
title. I feel prouder still to speak here. Memory has been very busy with me to- 
day, but no great change is apparent. The church is changed. How I remember 
the good old pastor from whom I and my brother ran and hid when he visited our 
house, but to whom I was glad to come, in after years, for comfort and advice ! I 
also remember, with glad emotions, my Sunday-school teacher, Dr. Carpenter, to 
whose faithful instruction I owe so much, and who sent me on my mission with 
words of cheer. 

Rev. Charles S. Wright was then introduced, and spoke eloquently and 
feelingly. He took sides with the Puritans, spoken of by Hon. T. G. Bergen, and 
believed that to them we owed a great deal, even here. He said everything told the 
story to-day. The pastor had preached it powerfully, all the speakers had portrayed 
it eloquently, the music had given it sweetly, the flowers had told it tastefully, and 
it remained but for him to re-echo the same sentiment. 

Rev. J. M. Van Burex, formerly of New Lots, made a few remarks on tem- 
perance, alluding to the difference in the social customs of the old times and new. 

Rev. A. R. Thompson, D. D., who, as President of the South Classis of Long 
Island, had conducted the exercises of the afternoon to the entire satisfaction of all 
present, in an eloquent closing address, alluded to the instructions of the past, and 
spoke of the covenant faithfulness of God, who according to his promise had 
blessed children and children’s children, on this very spot, for two hundred years. 

The singing was conducted by the chorister, Mr. Andrew Hegemax. 

The benediction was pronounced by Rev. E. P. Rogers, D. D., of New York. 

Thus ended a day that cannot be forgotten by those present — a day when were 
gathered up the mercies of the days of the years of the right hand of the Most High. 

Among the clergymen present were Rev. O. E. Cobb, Rev. Charles I. Shep- 
herd, Rev. E. S. Fairchild, Rev. H. A. Friedel, Rev. U. D. Gulick, Rev. Dr. 
E. P. Ingersoll, Rev. Dr. J. M. Ferris, Rev. R. G. Strong, and Rev. Daniel 
Rapelye, Missionary to China. 



DISCOURSE. 



In the Forty-eighth Psalm, twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth 
verses, we find these words : 

“Walk about Zion, and go round about her : tell the towers thereof Mark ye well 
her bulwarks, consider her palaces ; that ye may tell it to the generation follow- 
ing. For this God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even 
unto death.” 

One of the beautiful and distinguishing features of God’s ancient 
people was the love they bore for Jerusalem. It was their joy and 
glory, the centre of all the endearments of life. The stones in 
her streets were objects of affection, while her gates and walls and 
towers were the themes of conversation, and the subjects of their 
songs. Toward that loved place they turned when they prayed, 
and they breathed out their love in the earnest supplication, 
“ Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces.” 
Yet not all portions of Jerusalem were held of equal importance by 
the Jew. One portion was lifted higher than the rest in their affections. 
It really caused the whole city to be beloved. It was Zion. 

Mount Zion, technically, was the southernmost hill, and the highest 
on which the city was built, and was both the stronghold and ornar 
ment of Jerusalem. The hill rose perpendicularly from the valleys on 
the west and south, and was therefore naturally very strong, and art had 
contributed to render it stronger. To it the inhabitants fled when King 
David came from Hebron to J erusalem, and they boasted that so long 
as any were left to defend it, though they were the lame and the blind, 
no enemy could effect its capture. But David conquered it, and 
made it his capital. This mount, together with Mount Moriah and 
Ophel, David enclosed within his first wall ; and to this ancient portion 
the term Zion was frequently applied. This contained the magnificent 
palaces of Solomon, and was strongly fortified by citadels and towers. 



8 



TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY, 



“ Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion. 
God is known in her palaces for a refuge. The kings of the earth 
were assembled; they passed by together. They saw it, and so they 
marvelled : they were troubled, and hasted away.” Because this was 
the defense of Jerusalem, it was the object of the tenderest affection 
of the J ew. 

But it was not alone, or chiefly, these things — her wealth or mag- 
nificence or impregnability — that rendered the place so dear. It was 
something better than these. It was because the sanctuary, in which 
every Jew loved to worship, was there. The beautiful and holy tem- 
ple was reckoned as a part of Zion. Hence it was loved most of all by 
the Jew ; and when endangered, it awakened the deepest anxiety of 
the nation. Against this temple and the surrounding walls and towers 
frequent battles were waged; yet because of her position and strength, 
when the conflict ended, almost always Zion stood beautiful in vic- 
tory. 

It is thought that the writer of the Forty-eighth Psalm composed 
it to celebrate some remarkable victory or preservation vouchsafed unto 
her by the Lord, from her powerful assailants. Some interpreters 
think that it was on the occasion of Jehoshaphat’s victory over the 
children of Ammon and Moab. Others think that it was a song of 
thanksgiving after the defeat and destruction of Sennacherib’s army, 
who came up against the citadel and temple, and, with an host of 
185,000 men, besieged the city, and in the morning were all dead 
corpses. Whichever view is the correct one, whether preservation or 
triumph it may have been, the writer invites those who loved Zion, 
and were employed in her defence, to walk around her walls and ob- 
serve the deliverance that God had wrought for them ; to go count 
her towers and bulwarks, and observe that they were uninjured ; that 
her palaces remained in beauty and unharmed ; and he farther direct- 
ed them to recount to generations following the wonderful instances 
of God’s care and preservation ; that Zion still retained her beauty 
and glory and impregnability, and that amid her enemies she had 
neither been ruined nor destroyed. 

But the towers of that Zion have long since been overthrown, and 
the temple, with its unrivalled splendors, is gone , and her palaces, as 
Calvin says the very words intimate, have crumbled into dust. But 
there is a Zion of which this was the type, still beloved by the mem- 
bers of the true Israel, whose towers are still beautiful, and whose 
bulwarks shall never be overthrown. It is the Church of God, built on 
the foundation of the apostles and prophets, of which Christ Jesus is 



. 



REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, NEIV UTRECHT, L. I. 



9 



the chief corner-stone. Through the assaults of enemies and the 
changes of centuries this Zion stands still impregnable. No other 
place on earth is so precious. No other can awaken so many pre- 
cious memories, or inspire such joyful hopes, as the Church of Christ. 

If it was a good thing for the Israelite to walk about and observe 
the beauty and defence of Zion in his day, it is also a good thing for us 
and a thing calculated to promote our love, and hope, and joy, to re. 
count the trials and triumphs, the crosses and conquests of two hun- 
dred years : to observe her towers and bulwarks guarded by Him 
who neither slumbers nor sleeps ; to observe her precious ordinances 
as palaces, her glorious promises as bulwarks, that we may tell to the 
generations following, the glory and beauty of the Zion which God 
has given us, in order that future generations may make her God their 
guide, may espouse her interests, and cleave unto them forever. I 
find in these words the authority and the motive for what we under- 
take on this occasion. The same God who was the guide of the Psalmist 
and Israel in their way, and whose omnipotent hand was over them* 
for their protection and preservation, has been the God and guide of 
this church from its organization until now. And it seems fitting 
that those who compose the church at this time should review — as 
well as we can — the past, tracing the facts of our history, and treasur- 
ing them as the children of God and this Church, as memorials of His 
great goodness. We shall endeavor, so far as the brevity of a single 
discourse will allow, to do this — to trace the history and blessings and 
encouragements of this Church of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

We belong to that branch of the Church of Christ which is known 
as the Reformed Dutch Church of North America. The Reformed 
Protestant Dutch Church in Europe and America has for more than 
three centuries been recognized as a church of pure faith and scrip- 
tural polity. Pier history is a part of the record of the struggle of 
man for civil and religious freedom; for the conflict in the Nether- 
lands of the Church under the Cross was for liberty of thought, and be- 
lief, and worship. Upon that long and fearful but successful conflict 
we shall not now speak. Motley, in his matchless histories, recounts 
the privations our fathers endured, the difficulties they encountered, 
the battles they won in their contest with Charles . V. and his son Philip 
II., with an eloquence that is thrilling, yet by no means inappropriate. 
The historian tells us that against the encroachments of Rome and 
her persecutions, our fathers tenaciously maintained — though at a 
fearful cost of blood and treasure — their right of freedom to worship 
God. They held, and strove to implant in every heart, the three 



IO 



TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY, 



grand ideas — First, that all men are created equal. Second, that the 
Bible, or Sacred Scriptures, is the only rule of faith and practice. 
Third, that converts to the faith are not to be compelled, but to be 
won. 

Memorable in history is the union of the seven Northern provinces, 
in which evangelical religion prevailed, called the Union of Utrecht. 
In the city of that name in Holland, renowned for its excellent schools 
and University, which gave us Dr. Livingston, men perished at the 
stake rather than give up their faith. And the Church was noted for 
the loyalty and love, the courage and devotion to her doctrines and 
customs, of all who embraced her ordinances. As early as 1625, Dutch 
agricultural settlers arrived in this country. They came not like the Pil- 
grims, forced by religious persecution from home, but as Holland was 
a mercantile nation, many of her inhabitants came hither for purposes 
of trade. They gave names to their settlements similar to those in 
the old country. Those who landed at New York gave to the settle- 
^ment the name of New Amsterdam. Those who settled on Long 
Island gave to their settlements the names of Amersfoort, Breukelen, 
Midwoud, New Utrecht, Gravesande. The towm of New Utrecht was 
established as early as 1657. With their habits of industry and order, 
\>ur fathers also brought their principles and faith ; and they introduced 
on the shores of their adopted country the same high principles of re- 
ligious culture in which they had so carefully been reared at home. 
Our ancestors trusted in God. Jehovah was acknowledged and wor- 
shipped by them. As soon as they had formed a settlement they 
sought to organize a church and erect a building wherein they might 
worship God. 

At first the inhabitants of Long Island crossed over the East 
River and attended divine service in New York, until the year 1654, 
when Reformed Dutch churches were organized on Long Island, at 
Flatbush and Flatlands. Rev. Mr. Megapolensis, a minister of New 
York, and a committee, were sent over to Midwoud (Flatbush) and 
organized a church, February 9th, 1654. 

The first Dutch minister settled on Long Island was Rev. Johan- 
nes Theodorus Polhemus. He had formerly labored as a missionary 
in Brazil; but arriving in this country and manifesting a ze.ai in the 
cause by organizing a church in New Amstel, Del., he was author- 
ized by Governor Stuyvesant to preach in Flatbush, Flatlands, and 
Brooklyn. While he was the pastor of the Kings County churches, 
the first Dutch church on Long Island was erected, at Flatbush. 
It was in the form of a cross, sixty feet long and twenty-eight feet 

























. 

























' 

. 















REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, NEW UTRECHT ; Z. I. 



ii 



wide. Governor Stuyvesant, in 1660, appointed Pfbv. Mr. Megapolen- 
sis, John Snediger and John Stryker,, as commissioners to build this 
church, and ordered the people to assist. It was completed in the 
following year. Those having charge of the work reported that the 
building cost 4,637 guilders, or about 1,800 dollars. This amount 
was contributed by the inhabitants of the towns, and the salary of 
the minister — $416 per year — was raised by tax. In 1656, the Gov 
emor ordered that the minister should preach every Sabbath morn- 
ing in Flatbush, and in the afternoons alternately in Flatlands and 
in Brooklyn. Dominie Polhemus enjoyed a long pastorate of 22 
years. Fie died June 9th, 1676, deeply lamented, and was buried in 
the Brooklyn church, in front of the baptistery. The Consistory said: 
In recording the death of their worthy and beloved pastor, they de- 
plored the loss of his pious instructions, godly example, and edifying 
preaching. Under him a church was built in Flatlands in 1662, and 
in the town of Brooklyn in 1666. 

On February 16th, 1660, the Rev. Henricus Selyns — one of the 
most prominent and devoted ministers of his day— was called as the 
minister of the church of Brooklyn. On September 7th, 1660, he met 
with his church, and on September 12th, received a list of members 
from Rev. Mr. Polhemus, containing thirty-seven names. The first 
services were held in a barn. Mr. Selyns afterwards preached on Sab- 
bath mornings in the church of Brooklyn, and at the Governor’s bow- 
erie, or farm, in the afternoon. Few men have exerted a more bene- 
ficent and extensive influence. It is acknowledged that his eloquence 
was unsurpassed, while his devotion to his calling endeared him to all. 
He was a poet as well as preacher. He married his wife in New 
Utrecht. In 1664, July 22nd, he returned to Holland, from whence 
he was called to New York in 16S2, and was pastor until 1700. 

For several years the inhabitants of the town of New Utrecht form- 
ed a part of and worshipped with the congregations of Flatbush, Flat- 
lands, and Brooklyn, and contributed proportionably for the support 
of these churches. Previous to 1677, during the pastorate of Rev 
Johannes T. Polhemus, and while Rev. Flenricus Selyns was pastor of 
Brooklyn, religious services were held in New Utrecht, in the school- 
house, if they had any ; if not, in a private building. The church 
records of collections show that five public services were held prior to 
the date of the organization of the church. 

The Reformed Protestant Dutch church of New Utrecht was or- 
ganized in the year 1677. The service was conducted by Rev. Cas_ 
parus Van Zuuren, who had been installed five months before, as 



12 



TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY, \ 



pastor of the Dutch churches of Flatbush, Flatlands, and Brooklyn. 
The church of New Utrecht was composed of twenty-seven members, 
whose names have been preserved ; four of whom were selected and 
ordained to form the first Consistory. 

The names of the first elders were Jan Guysbertsz and Myndert 
Korten. The names of the first deacons were Arian Willemtsz (Ben- 
nett) and Tan Hansen (Van Noostrand).* The names of their succes- 
sors have been kept, and can be given, as an interesting item of history, 
in an almost unbroken chain, untill the present. 

Thus our church is an organized body two hundred years old 
this month, the first election of officers having occurred in October- 
Heaven smiled upon the effort. The labors of our fathers, begun 
with faith in God and earnest prayers, God has crowned with abundant 
success. The church thus planted has grown and prospered. 

The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was first administered in New 
Utrecht by Rev. Mr. Van Zuuren on the 23rd day of December, 1677 — 
Flatlands and New Utrecht communing together. On that occasion 
he preached from Hebrews 13 :S — “ Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, 
and to-day, and forever.” In the following year the sacrament was 
administered on the 1 4th ofjuly, when he preached from Romans 12:9; 
and again on the 12th of December. In 1679 it was administered 
in July; in 1CS0, in January, June, and December; in 1681, in July; 
in 1682, in January, June, and December; in 1683, in June and De- 
cember ; in 16S4, in June ; in 1685, on April 1 7th — on which occasion 
the services were conducted by Rev. Peter Teschenmaker, minister 
on Staten Island. 

This church formed a part of the collegiate system of churches 
known as the Dutch Churches of Kings County. From the time 
of the organization of this church Mr. Van Zuuren’s charge consisted of 
the congregations of Flatbush, Brooklyn, Flatlands, and New Utrecht, 
to whom he preached alternately, and who erected a parsonage for his 
use at Flatbush. Each congregation had a consistory of two elders and 
two deacons, and the business of the churches was transacted at 
union meetings of all the consistories. These were the only Dutch 
churches on Long Island during Mr. Van Zuuren’s ministry, of whose 
existence we have any present authentic record. The Flatbush church 
records (the oldest on the island) give during Mr. Van Zuuren’s min- 
istry the names of the elders and deacons chosen in Flatbush, Flat- 



* The writer would thank Hon. Teunis G. Bergen, Rev. E. T. Corwin, D. D.,and H. 
Onperdonk, Jr., for interesting items. 






REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, NEW UTRECHT \ L. T. 13 

lands, Brooklyn, and New Utrecht, from 1677 to 1684. No other 
consistories nor church organizations are mentioned. While the 
church in New York was vacant, Mr. Van Zuuren, by invitation, 
preached therein every Wednesday. lie also preached occasionally 
in the destitute church of Bergen. Dominie Van Zuuren labored 
faithfully and acceptably until the year 1685. On May 6th, he preach- 
ed his farewell sermon, from Numbers 6: 23-27. On May 18th, with 
his wife and child, he sailed for Holland, where he accepted a call, 
and died in the year 1685. He was an able man. He prepared his 
sermons for the Sabbath with great care, while in pastoral work he 
displayed the excellent qualities of energy, tact, and affection. He 
was instrumental in greatly advancing the interests of religion on 
Long Island. 

After the departure of Dominie Van Zuuren, at a meeting of the 
congregations, held May 10th, 1685, it was resolvedly a vote of eighty- 
three in favor and seven against, to apply to the Classis of Amster- 
dam for another minister.. In the mean time Rev. Henry Selyns, 
of New York, and Rev. Peter Teschenmaker, of Staten Island, preach- 
ed occasionally in the churches, and administered the sacraments. 
About the middle of June, 1685, Rev. Rudolphus Varick came from 
Holland and was installed as pastor, and preached in all the churches. 
During his pastorship, as they had been previous to it, civil affairs in 
the colony were in a bad and entangled condition. The temporary 
surrender by the Dutch to the English greatly embarrassed the Dutch 
churches. The frequent changes of Governors also wrought injur}'. 
In 1689, when Leisler usurped the office of Governor, and demand- 
ed that all should recognize and submit to his authority, Dominie 
Varick, who was a very bold man, remained patient as long as he 
could; but finally, for his high handed proceedings, he felt con- 
strained openly to denounce him as a usurper. This awoke the 
wrath of Leisler, and he was charged with speaking treasonable 
words, and with being cognizant of a design to rescue the fort from 
Leisler. He was dragged by a force of armed men from his home 
and confined within the fort for six months, and was sentenced by 
La Noy, a pretended judge, to pay a fine of ^80, to be deposed 
from his ministerial functions, and kept in prison until the fine was 
paid. ^ 

Rev. Henricus Selyns, of New York — to whom probably more 
than to any other man the church owed its preservation and liberty 
during the colonial period — sought to secure his release. He offered 
himself and his property as bail. The offer was refused, and he was 









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*4 



TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY, 



informed that, unless he discontinued his efforts, he would be impris- 
oned himself. How long Dominie Varick remained in prison we can- 
not tell. He was ultimately released, but his ill-treatment hastened 
his death. Leisler, his persecutor, not long after, was deposed and 
executed. Dominie Varick died, greatly lamented, May 7th, 1695. 

As the minister preached in four churches, it follows that he was 
necessarily absent from each church many services during a month. 
On the Sabbaths he was unable to be present, services were conduct- 
ed by the voor-lezer, or clerk. This person was probably the village 
schoolmaster. His duties were to keep the church clean, and ring 
the bell three times before the sermon ; between the second and 
third ringings to read a chapter from the Bible ; in the morning ser- 
vices, to read the Ten Commandments and the Twelve Articles of 
belief after the third ringing. In the afternoon sendee he read a 
short Psalm. He also led in all the singing. When the minister 
was not present, he read a sermon from a book called “ House Hom- 
ilies,” at the morning service, and a sermon on the Heidelberg Cat- 
echism in the afternoon. He was also required, on these Sabbaths, 
to hear the children recite the catechism. He provided water at 
baptisms, and discharged the duties of grave-yard sexton. 

In 1695, Rev. Wilhelmus Lupardus came over from Holland, and 
became the minister of the churches of Flatbush, Brooklyn, Flatlands, 
and New Utrecht, and continued until his death, February, 1702. 
His family consisted of a wife and seven children. The connection 
between civil and ecclesiastical affairs appears to have been very close 
in those days : the deacons of the church were the Overseers of the 
Poor in the town, and the elders were the Commissioners of Educa- 
tion. Some histories nyention the name of Rev. James Clark as a 
minister of the Kings County churches from the year 16S5 to 1695. 
His name is not found in our records. 

During Mr. Lupardus’ ministry — or about the year 1700 — the 
congregation erected a church edifice. It was a stone structure of 
octagonal form, with a roof running up to a point, surmounted by a 
belfry. At first it was without pews, the worshippers occupying 
chairs. Afterward pews were erected in it. The pulpit was very high, 
with about room enough in it for the preacher — in shape very much 
like a tumbler. Access to it was gained by a winding stair-case on 
one side. This building stood in the old grave-yard at the other end 
of the village, and remained until the year 1828 — a period of one 
hundred and twenty-eight years. During all this time it was used for 
public worship, except a few years during the struggle for Independ- 



REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, \ NEW UTRECHT, \ L. I. 



*5 

ence. During the Revolutionary War it was occupied by the British. 
Peculiar in construction and prominent in position, its removal was 
deeply regretted. It is said that sea captains used it as a mark by 
which to steer their vessels into the harbor ; and I doubt not many a 
landsman found it to be the place where he was directed in the way 
to the heavenly home. 

Shortly after the death of Mr. Lupardus, about the year 1702, 
the Governor of the colony was appealed to by the elders of the 
Kings County churches, for consent to call Rev. Bernardus Freeman, 
a minister at Schenectady, instead of applying to the Classis of Am- 
sterdam to send them a minister. Lord Cornbury was at that time 
Governor, and he worked hard to establish the English Church, and 
did not allow the Dutch churches to send for ministers, except by 
his permission. For some reason, the Governor at first refused to 
grant this request, and this action awakened opposition from a part 
of the people in the different towns. Flatbush called a town meet- 
ing, at which those present affirmed that they had the right to call the 
•minister of their choice ; and a committee was appointed of one from 
each town, to secure Rev. Mr. Freeman as their minister. Mr. Free- 
man was born at Gilhuis, Holland, and, like most young men of the 
day, learned a trade. Fie was a tailor. He was a man possessed of 
large natural gifts. He had a special faculty for acquiring the lan- 
guages. When the church of Albany needed a minister, it appears 
that Mr. Freeman was ordained by the Classis of Lingc, in Westphalia, 
March 10th, 1700, and sailed for this country. The Classis of Am- 
sterdam, however, had ordained Rev. Johannes Lydias for that place ; 
and he arriving in the country first, was accepted by the church. 
Dominie Freeman went to Schenectady and labored among the Mo- 
hawks. Finally the Governor gave a license to Dominie Freeman 
to be called to Long Island ; but as the conditions did not suit him 
he declined. 

In the mean time, some of the members of the Kings County 
churches had made application to the Classis of Amsterdam to send 
them a minister. The Classis did so. They sent Rev. Vinccntius 
Antonides, who arrived in the country at the beginning of the year 
1705, and was received and acknowledged by a portion of the con- 
sistories. Rev. Mr. Freeman then claimed the position, by the civil 
license. This was the commencement of a long and bitter strife. 
Party spirit ran high, and sad acts of violence were committed. * In 
consequence of this preliminary trouble, Dominie Freeman did not 
arrive until 1705, when he was installed pastor of the Dutch churches 



TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY, 



16 



of Kings County. In the call to Mr. Freeman, we find the name 
of the church of Bushwick included with the churches of Flatbush, 
Flatlands, Brooklyn, and New Utrecht, for the first time. Rev. Mr. 
Freeman was installed in November, 1705. The installation service 
took place in the church at New Utrecht, and Rev. Mr. Du Bois 
of New York preached the sermon. The difficulties continued. 
For twelve years the cause of religion suffered, and the congregations 
were perturbed by this distracting controversy. 

Finally, the unhappy differences were healed. In 17 14, a reconcil- 
iation took place, through mutual concessions. Delegates from Flat- 
bush, Brooklyn, Flatlands, New Utrecht, Bushwick and Jamaica 
were present. They unanimously agreed to receive both Dominie 
Freeman and Antonides as their pastors. Both were to receive the 
same salary — ^107 per year — to be furnished with suitable parson- 
ages and sufficient firewood, and a lot of ground for pasture. Thus 
this unhappy strife resulted in the settlement of two ministers 
over the churches in Kings County, whose united services, in conse- 
quence of the territorial extent of the charge and the growth of pop- 
ulation, were needed. Both of these ministers enjoyed long pastor- 
ships. Dominie Freeman was a man of extensive learning and 
acquirements. He published, in r 721, a volume of sermons in the 
Dutch language, entitled “The Ballances of God’s Grace.” The 
copy of this work in the Sage Library has a portrait in it. He also 
published a volume of moral precepts, translated from some of the 
ancient philosophers, with the title “The Mirror of Self-knowledge.” 
He was declared Emeritus in 1741, and died two years later, in 
1743 - 

The successor of Mr. Freeman was Rev. Johannes Arondeus, 
who was the colleague of Mr. Antonides about two years, or until 
July, 18th, 1741, when the latter died, full of years and honor, in his 
seventy-eighth year. A paper of his day, The New York Weekly Post 
Boy , says : “ He was a man of extensive learning, of an easy, conde- 
scending behaviour and conversation, and of a regular, exemplary 
piety, endeavouring to practice himself what he preached to others ; 
was kind, benevolent and charitable to all, according to his ability; 
meek, humble, patriotic, and resigned under all his afflictions, losses, 
calamities and misfortunes, which befell him in his own person and 
family, and which were not a few ; and after a lingering disease, full 
of «hopes of a blessed immortality, departed this life, to the great and 
irreparable loss of his relations and friends, and to the great grief of 
his congergation.” He left many descendants, some of whom reside 
within the county. 



REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH , , HEW UTRECHT \ D I. 



*7 



Mr. Antonides was succeeded by Rev. Ulpianus Van Sinderin. 
The latter came over from Holland in the year 1746. Immediately 
on his arrival and installation a difficulty arose between the pastors. 
Dominie Arondeus took offence because Dominie Van Sinderin per- 
formed a marriage service shortly after his arrival. 

At this period, the whole Dutch Church in America was rent by 
the unhappy controversy known as “ The Coetus and the Confcr- 
entke,” The Conferentice party adhered to past usage, and insisted 
that the work of educating and ordaining ministers and doing church 
work belonged to the mother country. The Ccctus designated the 
party who wished to educate and ordain ministers and do church 
work in this country. The whole Dutch Church was agitated by the 
discussion, and the churches of this county suffered in no small de- 
gree. Congregations, and even families, were sadly divided. Mr. 
Arondeus was, according to some records, a troublesome man. In 
the civil and ecclesiastical records, he is referred to in an unenviable 
manner ; and so long as he remained, the churches were involved in 
difficulties. The grave charges of drunkenness and other crimes 
were made against him, and he was cited to appear before the Coetus, 
a Classis in this country. He declined, and replied that he refused 
to acknowledge that body; but he ’syould be willing to communicate 
with the Classis of Amsterdam. Sides were taken. Each party had 
adherents. The ministers went so far as to declaim against each 
other from the pulpit. In September, 1750, after a trial, the Coetus 
deposed Mr. Arondeus, subject to the approval of the Classis of Am- 
sterdam. This action was confirmed by the Classis of Amsterdam in 
January (12th) of the following year. This declared that Dominie 
Van Sinderin was the only lawful minister of Kings County. Into 
the merits of that controversy we will not enter; happily the conflict 
has long since passed away. The feeling, however, existed for several 
generations. 

A short time after the deposition of Dominie Arondeus, a call 
was made upon Rev.. Anthonius Curtenius, who had been settled 
over the Dutch churches of Hackensack and Schraalenburgh, since 
November, 1730. He accepted the call, and was installed over the 
five churches in May (2nd), 1755. His ministry terminated in one 
year and five months. He died, after a brief illness, Oct. 19th, 1756, 
in the 59th year of his age. Notwithstanding the brevity of his la- 
bors, he had made a good impression on the Long Island churches. 
His efforts were directed to the healing of the differences among the 
people, and removing the bitterness which the controversy between 
2 



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TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY, 



the Ccetus and Conferentiae parties had caused. The following sen- 
tences are from a Eulogy printed about the time of his death : 

Concerning the blessed death of the Rev. Mr. Antonius Cur- 
tenius, in his life the faithful pastor of the five united congregations 
of the Netherland Reformed churches of Kings County, who on the 
19th of October, at his residence in Midwout, rested in the Lord. 
Iiis peaceable nature and inclination was known and seen, and it was 
a subject of no doubt that he trusted reverently, with abiding faith, in 
the promises of the Saviour. How earnest he was! His sorrowful 
members must have been touched with his efforts for peace, which he 
often insisted on, and his offers of friendship made without success. 
* # # # * it i s thus evident that his Reverence, during his 

residence in these parts, and during the 26 years in his previous 
position, stood as a peaceable and peace-making pastor, of blameless 
behavior. * * * He maintained his tranquillity to the last; and, 

in peace with God and all mankind, after a sickness of about 30 days, 
he found a quiet death, exclaiming with his parting breath, “ O death, 
where is thy sting ?” This caused uncommon sorrow to his beloved 
congregations, his friends, but most of all to his afflicted family, 
whose sole comfort was his glorious departure and happy death. 

He was buried under the church in the village of Flatlands. He 
belonged to the Confcrentite party, and was greatly grieved at the 
treatment he received from the Ccetus party. His death, however, 
was greatly lamented by all, who recognized that in his decease they 
• had sustained the loss of an estimable shepherd and a devoted Chris- 
tian. 

In August, 1757, Rev. Johannes Casparus Rubel was called to 
be the pastor of the Kings County churches, and was the colleague of 
Dominie Van Sinderin until 1784, or until the close of the Revolu- 
tionary War. 

Mr. Van Sinderin was a Whig. . He was an earnest, active 
preacher. In the pulpit he made many gestures. He became very 
animated during the delivery of his discourses, so much so as to for- 
get the limited space the pulpit allowed him. On one occasion, it is 
said, being more animated than usual, he leaned a little too far over 
the pulpit, and fell out. The story is that one of the deacons caught 
him in his arms and said, “ Dominie, I have long expected you !” 

Although an eccentric man, he was an earnest and practical 
preacher, and, by the use of illustrations, served to make the truth so 
plain that all could understand. In 1784 he was declared Emeritus, 
and a small salary was paid him until his death. He died on his farm, 
October 1st, 1803, and was buried in the village of Flatlands. Re- 
cently a handsome stone has been erected over his grave by his de- 













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REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, HEW UTRECHT \ L. I. Z g 

scendants. It took the place of an old one, interesting because of the 
following Dutch inscription : “ Hier legt het ligciiaem van den 

WELEER WAERDE HEER, ULPIANUS VAN SlNDERIN, IN SYN LEEVEN 

Predicant in Kings County. Overleeden den 23 Julii, 1796, 

OUD ZYNDE 88, JAAREN 7, MOANDEN 12 DAEGEN.” His SOU was the 

founder and first President of the Long Island Bible Society. 

The number of public weekly services held in the churches before 
the Revolution \vas greater than at present. The observance of Fast 
days and the holidays — Easter, Whitsunday, and Christmas — was par- 
ticularly attended to. The Call to Dominie Rubel, among other duties, 
required him to preach twice on each Lord’s day, and also on every 
Fast or Thanksgiving day, and on the usual Holy days, Christmas, 
Easter, and Whitsunday, and once upon the day following ; likewise upon 
New Year’s and Ascension day. Also a Preparation Sermon is to be 
delivered at the places where the Lord’s Supper is next Sabbath to be 
administered, which is to be dispensed four times a year, together 
with pastoral visitation, admission of members, and catechising the 
children. 

Dominie Rubel was not successful in his work among the Ger- 
mans, with whom he labored at Rhinebeck and Red Hook, before he 
came to Kings County. He was styled by the German Coetus, 
in 1755, “the rebellious Rubel,’’ and requested to resign his charge. 
It is evident that his conduct was unchanged after he came to the 
island, and became pastor of the churches of Kings County. He 
was a man of good talents, but his life and preaching were lacking in 
spiritual power. During the close of his pastorate, the war for Free- 
dom began. Dominie Rubel openly espoused the cause of England 
against the Patriots, and by his sermons from the pulpit and in his 
conversation among the people, he denounced in the severest terms 
all who took up arms for Independence. On one of the Fast days 
appointed by Congress, Dominie Rubel preached at Flatbush, and 
took as his text, “ Honor the king and said, in his discourse, that 
people could live as well without a head as without a king. He went 
so far as to call the soldiers of our army “the devil’s troops.” A num- 
ber of families sympathized with his sentiments, but a large majority 
of the people were Patriots. His conduct and disloyal sentiments 
awakened opposition. Unfortunately, this disloyalty was not his only 
sin. On account of drunkenness and the ill-treatment of his wife, 
he was, in May, 1784, deposed from the ministry. He died in May, 
1797, and was buried in Flatbush. 

Shortly after the commencement of the Revolution, on the 



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20 



TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY, 



22nd day of August, 177 6, the British troops took possession of this 
portion of the island. They landed at Bath, near the foot of the 
street on which the present church edihce stands. The battle of 
Long Island was fought five days later, August 27th. At the ap- 
proach of the enemy many of the families left their homes. Most 
of them, however, returned again ; but public religious services in this 
town were sadly interrupted during the war. Some families attended 
church at Flatbush. As evidence of this we have a Pass given by 
the British to allow one of our families on Sabbath to go through 
their lines. 

The church building was used at various times by the British, for 
the different purposes of hospital and riding school. At the close of 
the war, in 1783, it underwent considerable repairs, at a cost of five 
hundred pounds (Continental money), and was devoted again to its 
original purpose for forty-three years. , 

At the close of the war, in 1784, on the 5th of October, the six 
Reformed Dutch churches made a call upon Rev. Martinius Schoon- 
maker, of Gravesend and Harlem. They gave him a salary of ^150 
a year, of which New Utrecht furnished ^24, as her share of the 
salary and expenses. The work of Mr. Schoonmaker was greatly 
blessed. By his indefatigable labors, and sympathetic and kind 
manner among his people, he was, under God’s blessing, enabled to 
restore the shattered congregations to unity ; while his devoted life 
and earnest, spiritual preaching was instrumental in largely increasing 
the numbers and efficiency of the members of the churches. He ap- 
pears to have been a man raised up by God for the time, and the needs 
of the Long Island churches, at that interesting yet critical juncture 
of their history. At his death, the churches were left strong and 
vigorous, and abounding in the work of the Lord. His memory is 
still precious among the older members of these congregations. 

Rev. Martinus Schoonmaker was born at Rochester, Ulster County, 
in 1737. He studied the classics under Goetschius, from 1753-6, and 
theology under Marinus. He was licensed to preach in 1765, and 
was settled in Gravesend and Harlem from 1765 to 1783, when he 
became the pastor of the Kings County churches. 

During the Revolution he was an ardent Whig. So highly was 
he esteemed, that the Congress in session at Harlem, on his word and 
Statement, released a suspected Tory from arrest. Yet while his loy- 
alty made him beloved by the patriots, he was dreaded by the 
British, who sought to effect his capture. One Sabbath, while he was 
pastor of Harlem and Gravesend, he preached in the morning in 



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REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, NEW UTRECHT \ L. I. 



21 



Brooklyn. After service he was quietly informed of a plot of the 
British to arrest him as a spy, because he had been in the habit of 
conveying letters from Harlem to the brethren on Long Island. He 
used to sew them in his shirt, and on Saturday evening he ripped them 
loose, and after service on the Sabbath quietly handed them to an elder 
to distribute. The British had discovered this, and determined to 
take him. No time was to be lost. The Consistory dispatched sev- 
eral messengers on different errands — one to the Narrows, to have a 
boat in readiness — -another to a relative, Mr. Williamson, of Flatbush, 
for aid. The eider, Mr. Rapelje of Quipplebush, with whom he 
staid, sent him on horseback, with his colored servant as a faithful 
guide, to a designated point on the road between Flatbush and New 
Utrecht. There he was met by. Mr. Williamson with a conveyance, 
who drove him rapidly to the Narrows. Nor were they a moment too 
soon ; for so closely did the Red-coats pursue, that when the Dom- 
inie hastened on board, and the boat as quickly as possible was swung 
out into the deep water, the bullets of the enemy whistled through the 
sails. He was taken safely over to Harlem. Hue American troops at 
that time occupied Harlem Heights. Afterwards he went up the 
river to Rochester, Ulster County, where he remained for a long 
time. 

During his ministry, and that of his colleague, the change of 
language from Dutch to English took place. This change was ren- 
dered necessary by the desire of the young people, who were taught 
English at school. It is said that Dominie Schoonmaker once at- 
tempted to preach in English, but owing to his want of success he 
never repeated the experiment. Toward the close of his life, when 
he preached, he read the hymms in English. He possessed a vigor- 
ous constitution. In his 8oth year, he said he could not complain of 
a single bodily infirmity; even his sight was perfect. He continued 
to preach in all the Dutch churches in the county until the year 1824, 
when, on May 24th, he died, in his eighty-seventh year. “ He was a 
person of reserved and retiring habits, yet so courteous and polite that 
he won his way to the hearts of all. He was a good representative 
of the clergyman of the old school.” He took an active part in ec- 
clesiastical affairs, his name being frequently mentioned as a delegate 
to the General Synod. His labors were great and blessed. He 
came to his grave with a character unblemished. Few men have 
been more widely respected and beloved. He and his colleague 
were buried in Flatbush. 

His colleague was Rev. Petrus Lowe. In 1787, a call was ex- 






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22 



TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY, 



tended by the six congregations of Kings County to the licentiate, 
Petrus Lowe. It was laid before the Synod, and Mr. Lowe, having 
passed a satisfactory examination, was licensed to preach. His call 
having been approved, he was installed October 27th, 1787. His 
ordination took place in New Utrecht church, Saturday morning, and 
the sermon was preached by Rev. Mr. Schoonmaker. His installa- 
tion took place in Flatbush the next day. 

Rev. Mr. Lowe was born at Kingston, N. Y. From his early years 
he was remarkable for his piety. An old barn in Kingston has always 
been associated with Mr. Lowe, as the place where, when a lad, he 
frequently went to pray. He studied under Dr. Livingston. Rev. Mr. 
Van Pelt says of him : “ Fie was social in his disposition, pleasant and 
friendly in his looks, agreeable and entertaining in conversation, having 
the happy faculty of mingling gracefully pious reflections therewith. 
Fie was modest and unassuming, ever seeking to be more alienated 
from the world, and more fully conformed to Jesus. Hence, by those 
unacquainted with him, his real powers were not at first appreciated. 
H e was a man of industrious habits, and of a candid and liberal spirit. 
He labored with fidelity and zeal, speaking to the heart and con- 
science.” 

Mr. Lowe had learned the art of book-making, which he turned to 
a good account by gathering up and binding in a volume all the rec- 
ords of the church that could be found. He erected two dwellings in 
succession m Flatbush, and ornamented them with trees and flowers- 
His garden was the place of meditation ; and while walking therein he 
prepared many ol his sermons. One of his discourses has been print- 
1 ed. On the icth of April, 1792, we find the following action. The 
service being held in New Utrecht once in six weeks, it was resolved, in 
United Consistory. That the service in the afternoon in Brooklyn, Flat- 
bush and New Utrecht, should be in the English language, on the days 
when Dominie Lowe should preach. From Mr. Lowe’s labors it is 
apparent that he was a diligent minister, of a social disposition, and an 
example to his people of humility and Christian affection. He died 
of cancer, June 10th, 1S18. 

During the ministry of Dominies Schoonmaker and Lowe, John 
Van Kirk Van Nuyse was chorister. His successors in the office have 
been Thomas Hegeman, Benjamin Larzelere, Mr. Ralph, Peter Roguet, 
and Andrew Hegeman, who is our present chorister, and has held the 
office since 1848. 

I wish, at this point, to recall to mind, in order that they may not 
be forgotten, a few of the ancient customs which have become obso- 



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REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, \ NEV/ UTRECHT, L. 7 . 



2 3 



lete. In the old church, the number of the first psalm was set with 
movable figures suspended at the sides of the pulpit. These the clerk 
properly arranged before service, so that every one might readily pre- 
pare to sing. It was also the clerk’s duty to have an hour-glass prop- 
erly placed near the minister at the commencement of the sermon, and 
as the last grains of sand left the upper for the lower cavity, it was a 
reminder that the time had arrived for the conclusion. Some preachers, 
however, quietly allowed the sand to run out, and then informed 
their audience, that as they had sat so patiently through the one, they 
would proceed with a second. The collections during the service were 
taken in velvet bags attached to the end of long poles, with a small 
alarm bell fastened to the end. The best explanation I have heard 
of the use of the latter, is that it indicated when contributions were 
made. When a coin was given the bell rang ; if it passed through a 
pew silently it showed that nothing had been contributed by the per- 
sons in that pew. It required experienced dexterity to handle them 
well, to avoid the pillars and the bonnets. Previous to 1.S02 there were 
no stoves in the churches. The ladies were accustomed to bring their 
footstoves, and to replenish them at a house near by. In simplicity of 
manner and in want of many blessings we enjoy, our fathers wor- 
shipped God, and truly found Him, as they waited in His courts. 

In those days, when the ladies went out to spend the day or to 
make an afternoon visit at the parsonage, they carried their spinning 
wheels and flax with them. Among the old social customs was one 
to furnish the persons invited to funerals, with tobacco, pipes, and 
liquor— a custom which was sadly abused. This was happily aban- 
doned about forty years ago. Funeral sermons do not appear to 
have- been usual in our church in olden times. 

About the year 180S, in consequence of the increase of population 
in the various towns, and the increasing need of a separate pastor in 
each town, the combination of churches which until then had existed, 
was in form dissolved, although in some practical features it contin- 
ued a few years longer. Dominie Schoonmaker continued to preach 
in the different churches as long as he was able. In 1802, the 
church of Brooklyn called Rev. J ohn B. J ohnson of Albany. Rev. 
Mr. Schoonmaker took part in the installation service. In i8a3, 
Rev. Peter Lowe became the pastor of the united congregations of 
Flatbush and Flatlands, whom he served until his death. 

In July, i8o}, a call was made by the church of New Utrecht on 
Rev. John Beattie, D.D. The call was accepted, and in the follow- 
ing year he was installed. Dr. Beattie was a native of Salem, Wash- 



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TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY, 



ington Co., N. Y. He had united with the Presbyterian Church under 
Dr. Proudfit’s ministry. He received his preparation for college at 
Kinderhook, and graduated at Union College, at Schenectady. He 
studied theology under Dr. Livingston, and was licensed to preach 
the Gospel in 1809. He labored for a time as a missionary in the west- 
ern portion of this State and Canada, until he received the invitation 
of this church to settle as their minister, where he remained twenty- 
four years. 

After the dissolution of the union of the churches, each church 
carried on its separate work with greater vigor and blessing than be- 
fore. The church of New Utrecht was not an exception. The at- 
tendance upon the services increased, and many were added to its 
membership “of such as shall be saved.” 

In 1825, John Carpenter, M.D., organized the first Sabbath-school 
in the town, in the village of Fort Hamilton, which held its sessions 
in a barn. He was the founder of Sabbath-schools in New Utrecht. 
Owing to the removal of Dr. Carpenter from Fort Hamilton, this 
school was for a season discontinued. It was subsequently revived 
by Moses Allen, of New York, and still continues. While under 
Mr. Allen’s charge, the Fort Hamilton and New Utrecht village 
schoolsjoinedthe Sabbath-schools of New York City in their anniver- 
sary. At one of them, held in the old Castle Garden about fifty-one 
years ago, this school, on the roll of the S. S. Union, numbered 63. 
Mr. Allen’s successors have been Mr. Horton, Mrs. Sarah Berrier, 
Mrs. Albert Van Brunt, Christopher Prince, M.D.,and J. Remsen Ben- 
nett, who is the present Superintendent. The Assistant Superinten- 
dent is Mrs. Wm. J. Cropsey. 

In 1826, Dr. Carpenter, having removed to New Utrecht village, 
organized the New Utrecht Sabbath-school in the old church. This 
school continues to this day. Of this he was Superintendent until 
his death. His successors were James Beekman, for a short time — 
Charles Lott, who was Superintendent about 16 years, or until his 
death — Thomas M. Hegeman,and Andrew Hegeman, who is the pres- 
ent Superintendent. The Assistant Superintendent is Simon W. Du 
Bois. An infant class was organized in connection with this school 
in 1869, by Henry Holt. In 1827, Garret I. Cowenhoven organized 
a Sabbath-school in Cowenhoven’s lane, which, after flourishing a 
number of years, was discontinued. Fifteen years ago, the present 
school at Edgewood was organized by Mr. John McKay, who con- 
tinues its Superintendent. The Assistant Superintendent is Mr. James 
C. Lott. 



REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, NEW UTRECHT, L. /. 2 $ 

For a few years the church increased in numbers and power. Mr. 
Beattie was a man of industrious habits, and a good preacher. His 
manuscript sermons show that he was a man of good natural ability. 
But it appears he was indiscreet in manner, and, by attempting to man- 
age the temporalities of the church, and by the introduction of poli- 
tics in his discourses, he awakened opposition. Difficulties followed. 
They were increased by his determined pressure of the project to build 
a new church edifice. The walls of the old church were cracked, and 
by some they were regarded as unsafe and likely to fall. A part of 
the people favored the determination to build. But so great was the 
veneration for the old edifice that a large number opposed its demo- 
lition and were in favor of its repair. 

The congregation became sadly divided. In 1828 the work of 
demolition began, and the stones in the old building were used in the 
construction of the new one. The site immediately in front of the old 
academy was finally selected. But grave difficulties arose to impede 
the progress of the work. The cost of the building was great, and 
not all of the people favored it. Many contributed to their utmost, 
and some even beyond their ability, to secure its completion. Eight 
or ten persons subscribed five hundred dollars each. Then during 
the process of its erection a violent north-east storm raged, and as the 
workmen had neglected to cover the top of the walls, the mortar be- 
came soaked, and they were weakened, and more than half of the 
walls, which were ready for the plates, fell. In addition to this, dur- 
ing the same year, serious sickness prevailed, and many of the lead- 
ing subscribers died; so that, if the subscriptions had not been made 
the previous year, the erection of the church would have been indefi- 
nitely delayed. To assist in meeting the cost of building the new church 
the pews were sold at auction, subject to an annual rental for the sup- 
port of a minister. Conditions were made for the lapse of the pews to 
the church, if the rental was not paid. Many persons purchased 
pews, taking the majority of those in the body of the church and on 
the sides of the pulpit, and many of those now under the gallery. 
The sale amounted to a large sum, which greatly aided the work. 
The church was completed and dedicated to the service of Almighty 
God on Thanksgiving day, 1829. The persons who had the super- 
vision of its erection were John Van Deventer and James Cropsey. 

The difficulties in the church not being composed, Dr. Beattie re- 
signed his charge March 8th, 1834, and removed with his family to 
Lockport, N. Y., where he resided until his death, January 27th, 
1864. The following minute appears on the books of the Classis of 



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TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY, 



Long Island, at the time of Dr. Beattie’s resignation, Oct 14th, 1834: 
“ A joint application came before the Classis for the dissolution of the 
pastoral relation. The application for the dissolution was granted, and 
the Classis adopted the following: Resolved , unanimously, That this 
Classis unite with the Consistory of New Utrecht in expressing their 
regret at the circumstances which, in the providence of the Lord, has 
led to the separation of the Rev. John Beattie from them as their pas- 
tor, and, while they fervently pray that the Lord would pour out upon 
them as a people the spirit of unity and peace, and speedily send them 
another pastor after His own heart, to break to them the bread of life, 
they would most affectionately commend to the churches of our Lord 
and Saviour Jesus Christ their beloved brother, the Rev. John Beattie, 
as an able, faithful, zealous and successful minister of the New Testa- 
ment, trusting that the great Head of the Church will soon appoint 
him another field of labor, and continue him long as a blessing to His 
church and people.” At the time of Dr. Beattie’s resignation the 
church numbered 68 members. 

After the resignation of Dr. Beattie, the congregation was without 
a pastor about a year, when he was succeeded by the Rev. Robert 
Ormiston Currie, D. D. Dr. Currie was a native of Hudson. N. Y. 
He was a graduate of Rutgers College, and of the Theological Semi- 
nary at New Brunswick. After graduation he was appointed rector 
1 of the Grammar School in New Brunswick, wherein young men receive 

their preparation for college. A call was made upon him, and he ac- 
cepted it, and was ordained February 15, 1835. continued to 
serve the congregation until his death — a period of over thirty-one 
years. He happily healed the divisions of the people, and united the 
members of the congregation. By his judicious course, he bound the 
affections of the people to him, and strengthened their attachments to 
the church. Under his ministry the church prospered. During his pas- 
torate a chapel was erected in the village of Fort Hamilton, for the 
accommodation of the Sabbath-school, and services were held there 
on the last Sabbath afternoon of every month. A lecture room was also 
erected in the village of New Utrecht. The number of sittings in the 
church was also increased, by the erection of a gallery. The church 
increased in her benevolent offerings, yet few comparatively were 
added to the membership. The ordinances were regularly dispensed, 
and waited on by the people. Some were added to the church, 
and God’s children were instructed in the great doctrines of salvation. 
He preached the word faithfully, yet no mention appears of any season 
of religious interest during his ministry. Those who knew him well 











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REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, NEW UTRECHT, L. /. 



27 



have remarked that toward the close of his life he seemed to be 
burdened by some great sorrow. It was, I doubt not, the burden 
many a minister carries, and by which he is borne down, when the 
truth he utters does not seem to result in the quickening of God’s 
professed people, and the conversion of sinners. I feel almost author- 
ized to state this as the cause of his sorrow ; for I remember to have 
heard Dr. Howard Crosby, of New York, remark (in conversation), 
that the last time he met Dr. Currie before his death, the latter placed 
his arms around his neck and bursting into tears, said, “ I wish I could 
see some more fruit of my ministry.” But the Lord had ordered 
otherwise. 

Still he did not relax his efforts of faith and prayer. Like. Paul 
at Ephesus, he toiled on in public and in secret, even when his la- 
bors appeared the most fruitless and unavailing. But the seeds he 
cast were the seeds of God’s Kingdom ; the word which he preached 
“ was quick and powerful.” Relying on the promise of God, “ they 
that sow in tears shall reap in joy,” he continued faithful, in season 
and out of season preaching the truth. He was a beautiful illustra- 
tion of the patient toiler in his Master’s vineyard. 

“ Sow thy seed ; be never weary, 

Nor let fears thy mind employ. 

Be the prospect ne’er so dreary, 

Thou shalt reap the fruits of joy.” 

After a season — as it always does — the seed of God’s word, pray- 
erfully and faithfully sown, took root, and sprang up, and waved in 
blessed harvest ; but he did not live to gather it. Like Moses, he 
came to the distant view of the inheritance only. He lived to see 
a little interest in spiritual things awakened among the young people 
in the church, before he died. His last sermon in the church was 
preached from the 14th verse of the Soth Psalm — “Return, we be- 
seech thee, O God of hosts : Look down from heaven and behold and 
visit this vine.” 

Dr. Currie was a man of more than ordinary attainments, both of 
a literary and theological character. He was an excellent classical 
scholar. In ecclesiastical affairs, he took a prominent part, and in 
church courts was looked upon as good authority on constitutional 
questions. In debate, he was welcomed as a colleague and dreaded 
as an opponent. In his pastoral work he was faithful and affection- 
ate. He was kind, and at times humorous in manner, and without a 
trace of arrogance or self-importance. He was a man widely re- 



. --aoj :o ■■! •- -■ ' j 



28 



TIVO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY, 



spected. In March, 1866, while he was, as usual, preparing to attend a 
meeting of the Long Island Bible Society, he was taken with a severe 
paroxysm of pain, under which he ruptured one of the small blood 
vessels near his heart, and instantly expired. A tablet, with an in- 
scription written by Dr. J. S. Lord, was erected in the church, to his 



memory. 

Rev. Mr. Van Buren says of him : “ He was a careful student. 
He had mental traits which rendered him competent to distinguish 
himself in any of the departments of learning. He was careful, can- 
did, wise in counsel, a good adviser in ecclesiastical matters. An ex- 
ample of punctuality in attendance, and of courtesy and propriety in 



conference and debate with his ministerial brethren ; and as such he 
is held in memory, esteemed and respected. 

The sudden death of Dr. Currie produced a profound impression 
upon the congregation and vicinity. Many persons were led by it to 
serious 1 ejection. A blessed revival followed. Special meetings were 
held for nine weeks. Although it was the spring-time, the people 
found time for these services. They left their ploughs an hour earlier 
than usual, in order that they might be at the place of prayer. At 
these services Rev. Hugh S. Carpenter, D. D., Rev. C. L. Wells, Rev. 
C. Brett, and others, greatly aided the work. The result was a large 
ingathering of souls. The church had an accession of 69 on confes- 
sion, in one year — a number equal to one-half of its former member- 
ship. Many of the converts, in their examination for admission to 
membership, referred to his sermons as the means whereby they were 
brought to reflection. At his death the number of members was 137. 

After the death of Dr. Currie, the church was vacant for a period 
of fifteen months. The present pastor of this congregation — a grad- 
uate of Rutgers College and of the Theological Seminary at New 
Brunswick — first preached in this church by invitation, Nov. nth, 
1866. In the following spring a call was made, and he was installed 
on June 27th, 1867. He is the third pastor of this church since its 
separate existence. The sermon on that occasion was preached by 
Rev. Wm. Brush, of Bedminster, N. J., the charge to the pastor was 
delivered by Rev. M. G. Hansen, of Gravesend, and the charge to 
the people by the Rev. C. L. Wells, of Flatbush. Ten years have 
passed away since I came among you. Of what has been crowded 
into them, I purpose on this occasion only to make a brief mention. 

The revival, which preceded my entrance upon the work, not only 
added to the church membership, but it also increased its usefulness and 
power. The hearts of all were warm, and, under the impulses of the 



. 




REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH , , NEW UTRECHT \ L. I. 



29 



Holy Spirit, were led to devoted effort for Christ’s cause, and to lib- 
erality toward the work beyond our own bounds. Our church had 
enjoyed a good reputation for liberality. What the amount of con- 
tributions were before the time of which I speak, we have no means 
of knowing. In the last ten years there has been raised over twelve 
thousand dollars for benevolence outside of our own field, and the 
congregation has raised thirty thousand dollars for improvements 
in the church edifice and chapels, and the parsonage and congrega- 
tional purposes. In the year 1869, a handsome stone chapel was 
erected at Edgewood, by the generosity of some of the members of 
the congregation, at a cost of six thousand dollars. A Young Men’s 
Christian Association was organized in 1869. In the year 1875 an 
addition to the church edifice, for the organ and choir, was completed, 
at a cost of forty-seven hundred dollars. It was rededicated No- 
vember 7th, 1875. In these ten years God has not left us without 
tokens of His favor and blessing. No year has passed without bring- 
ing accessions to the membership. In the early spring of 1876, 
another gracious outpouring of the Hcly Spirit was enjoyed. Special 
meetings were held during six weeks, and forty-seven were re- 
ceived into church fellowship — forty-five of them upon confession of 
their faith in Christ. The most of them were young people. Forty- 
five members of the church have died during this period, all of them 
dearly beloved, many of them pillars in the house of the Lord. 
Many have been certified to other congregations, and now the church 
numbers two hundred and forty-five members. To God be all the 
praise. 

The following is an extract from the last Annual Report of the 
Consistory : “ By God’s blessing we come to our two hundredth year, 

having a larger membership than ever before were identified with us. 
The last indebtedness which had been incurred by the alterations of 
the parsonage, and by the enlargement of the church, and the purchase 
. of an organ, has been cancelled by the generous gifts of the people, 
while the calls of benevolence have been met with liberality.” More 
than one-half of the present members and supporters of the church are 
the descendants of those who were its members and supporters before 
the Revolutionary War. It is a gratifying fact to find that my ances- 
tors were among them. 

During the last one hundred years this church has given a num- 
ber of her sons to the ministry of the Lord, and her daughters as 
helpmeets to many clergymen. We mention the names of Rev. 
George Barcalow, Rev. Peter Van Pelt, Rev. Philip Duryee, Rev, 



. 

■ 

. 

' 



TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY, 



30 

Hugh S. Carpenter, D. D., Rev. Charles H. Pool, and Rev. Charles 
S. Wright. The last three occupy positions of usefulness ; the others 
have passed away to their reward. 

This is a sketch of the past two hundred years. Such has been 
the ministry God has given you. This is a brief review of the histo- 
ry of God’s care and love and faithfulness to this congregation since 
its origin. For over one hundred and fifty years it was the only church 
in the town. How much this church has blessed this town ! What 
good it has done our families cannot be estimated in this world. 
Whatever of truth and of sound theology and of early training in the 
love of the right we possess, we are indebted most of all to her. Of 
many it is written, “ This and that man were born there.” 

But having already occupied much time, and perhaps exhausted 
your patience, let me bring my discourse to a close with the presenta- 
tion of two thoughts which the review of the past two hundred years 
suggests. The path has not been all joyous. There have been al- 
ternations of trials and triumphs ; yet goodness and mercy have fol- 
lowed this congregation throughout all its history. “ The Lord hath 
been mindful of his covenant.” He hath blessed us, and will He not 
bless us still? If we seek Him, He will be found of us. If we are 
faithful, He will not forsake us. He will “ look down from heaven, 
and behold, and visit this vine.” 

Let me mention two things which it appears God’s goodness to 
this congregation in the past calls loudly for. One is, our entire 
consecration to Him. The retrospect of the past, the thought of God’s 
uninterrupted preservation and blessing, ought to lead all to a renew- 
ed and fuller consecration of all we have and are unto Him who 
loved us, and gave Himself for us. Some of you remember well all 
the pastors, from Dominie Schoonmaker until the present. Could we 
recall them for a brief season, and have them here once more to 
speak to us some important message, we do not doubt their message 
to us would be the same they so tenderly and earnestly spoke to you 
years ago. “ Be ye reconciled to God.” “ Forsake not the assembling 
of yourselves together .” “ Believe 071 the Lord J'esus Christ , and thou 

shalt be saved.” “ Be thou faithful unto death , a?id I will give you a 
crown of life.” 

The other duty called for by this review is gratitude. Gratitude 
for past mercies. Every one who is in any way connected with this 
church, has reason to be grateful. The Church of our Fathers is our 
church. This church, organized for the worship and service of God, 
is no less effective because it is old; but, on the contrary, because of 



REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, \ NEW UTRECHT, L. /. ^ 

this fact, there is gathered around the name and the place associations 
most dear, which are calculated, among the thoughtful and devoted, 
to increase her power for good. When Israel had crossed the Jor- 
dan, God bid them take stones from the midst of the stream and 
erect a memorial as a sign ; and when their children said, “ What mean 
ye by these stones ?” they should let their children know that Israel 
had come over Jordan on dry land. And as we come up, by God’s 
gracious guidance, out of a second century, we also should show to 
our children that we have the spirit of our fathers ; and when the 
children say, “ What mean ye by this service ?” the fathers may reply, 
“ It was in grateful remembrance of the way in which God had led 
our venerable church.” 

One day, in yonder harbor, a person was observed in the w-ater, 
and almost drowned, because he was unable to swim. A stalwart 
man plunged in, and lifted him up and sustained him and brought 
him to the dock in safety. He was saved, when it seemed that he 
must have perished. He turned to his rescuer and asked, “ What 
can I do to show my gratitude ?” He went to his home and related 
to his family the story of his peril and his rescue. And it touched 
their hearts and awakened the inquiry of the wife and of the children, 
“What can we do to show our thankfulness ? ” How many of us 
have friends and parents and children, who through the instrumental- 
ity cf this Church of God have been rescued ; and shall we not ask, 
“ What can we do to show our gratitude ?” If nothing more, it ought 
to awaken every one to greater interest in the work of the Lord. 
Two hundred years of such experience of God’s care and blessing 
ought to confirm our faith in the Lord, in the fruitfulness of His 
word, in the faithfulness of His promises. It ought to quicken every 
one to earnest activity. Shall we be true to the faith of God ? Shall 
we be true to the standard our fathers gave to us, on which, above 
every other, is the name of Jesus ? 

“ Let us learn from their example. In humble penitence and loving 
faith; in steadfast loyalty to Christ Jesus; in pure, peaceable and pa- 
tient continuance in every path of duty toward God and all men, let 
us go forward and discharge the mission which God has committed 
to our hands. And so, when another hundred years shall be added 
to these, and we shall have gone the way of all the earth, to mingle 
our dust with the dust of our fathers and mothers, shall our descend- 
ants come to lay their tribute on our graves, and say, with filial pride, 
‘They were faithful to us, as their fathers were faithful to them.’ ” 

God grant it, for Christ’s sake. Amen. 



ADDRESS 



ON THE 

ANNALS OF NEW UTRECHT. 

BY 

TEUNIS G. BERGEN. 



Ladies and Gentlemen: 

At the request of your Pastor and Consistory, I have prepared 
and will attempt to give, a condensed account of the annals of New 
Utrecht in olden times, commencing at its foundation and ending 
about the period of the Revolutionary War. 

The first reliable account we have of the Bay of New York, on 
which the town of New Utrecht is situated, is that of Hendrick Hud- 
son, who, on a voyage of discovery in 1609, entered the same. The 
lands about the Narrows, he states, “ were as pleasant with Grasse, and 
Flowers, and goodly Trees, as ever they had seen, and very sweet 
smells came from them.” The discovery of the Bay of New York by 
Verrazzano, a Florentine in the service of the King of France, in the 
spring of 1524, as set forth in our old histories, has lately been 
clearly proved, by the Hon. H. C. Murphy, to be a myth, and 
without foundation. 

The first application for land in New Utrecht to the Director 
General and Council of New Netherlands (as this country was then 
called by Europeans), after the first settlements in the colony, 
was that made by Antony Jansen van, or from, Salee, in Africa — a 
banished settler of New Amsterdam — for 100 morgen, or 200 acres, on 
the 3rd day of August, 1639; which was granted, and a patent issued 
for the same, on the 27th of May, 1643. These premises were lo- 

3 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 




cated partly in New Utrecht and partly in Gravesend, as the town 
boundaries are now fixed. He probably removed to these lands im- 
mediately after the granting of his application, and was recognized as a 
resident of New Utrecht shortly after its organization as a town — his 
dwelling being located, as is supposed, at what is now known as 
Unionville — and he was undoubtedly the first European settler who 
occupied lands within the boundaries of this town and its neighbor, 
Gravesend. The Van Sicklen and part of the Emmons family of this 
locality are his descendants. 

November 22nd, 1652, Cornelis Van Werckhoven, a member 
of the West India Company — who, it may be said, were the European 
proprietors of New Netherlands — purchased of the Indian proprie- 
tors what is commonly known as the Nyack tract, extending along 
the Narrows and Lower Bay, from the line between the farms late of 
Albert N. Van Brunt and that late of Chandler White, to what is 
known as Cortelyou’s Lane, or the road leading from the Bay near 
the residence of John C. Bennett, to the village of New Utrecht. 
Under this purchase a much larger tract was claimed — covering about 
the whole town and a part of Brooklyn — which was finally narrowed 
down to the above boundary. The price paid was, 6 shirts, 2 pairs 
shoes, 6 pairs stockings, 6 adzes, 6 knives, 2 scissors, and 6 combs. 
The intention of Van Werckhoven, under the regulations of the West 
India Company, was to become a patroon, or feudal lord, over this 
territory. One of the conditions imposed by the Company on their 
large grants was, that the grantee should within four years place 100 
settlers over 15 years of age on his premises. If Van Werckhoven 
had succeeded in his attempt, the soil of New Utrecht would probably 
to this day have been held by one family, and cursed with leasehold 
tenures like unto that by the Rensselaers and others on the Hudson. 

Van Werckhoven, shortly after his Indian purchase, commenced 
settlement on his lands, returning to Holland in 1654, to obtain the 
requisite number of settlers to entitle him to his feudal privileges, 
leaving Jacques Corteljau, the private tutor of his children, to man- 
age his affairs during his absence. Before leaving, he built a resi- 
dence and secure retreat, enclosed with palisades, on his purchase, 
sufficient to baffle any attack by the Indians. This was the second 
house built in the town, and, as near as can be ascertained, was lo- 
cated on the site of, and its walls are probably included within, the 
present residence of John C. Bennett. Van Werckhoven did not 
return to this country, dying in 1656, leaving a widow and two chil- 
dren. 



1 . 851 , 6/20 



ANNALS OF NEW UTRECHT, \ 35 

Corteljau’s management of the affairs of Van Werckhoven ap- 
pears to have been unsatisfactory to the heirs, who, in 1658, petitioned 
the Directors in Amsterdam to compel him to account and de- 
liver over the property. To this Corteljau answered that in the first 
place he ought to be paid the “ sums due him by writings, acts of 
Notary Public, and advanced money.” The Directors directed and 
urged Director Stuyvesant to attend to the matter ; but no settlement 
appears to have been made. Corteljau remaining in possession, and 
managing, after founding the town of New Utrecht, to hold the same 
until after the conquest of the colony by the English, when he obtain- 
ed from them a patent for the part he held. There is documentary 
evidence showing that Van Werckhoven left debts which Corteljau 
paid ; and it may be that his claims equaled the value of the proper- 
ty. From a suit in 1658, it may be inferred that Van Werckhoven 
erected a mill on his tract. 

Corteljau having no means to procure the necessary settlers to 
secure the whole of Van Werckhoven’s tract, in 1657 applied to the 
Director General and Council for consent to found and lay out a town 
on the same. His petition was granted on the 16th of January of 
that year, on which day he proceeded to lay out 20 lots of 25 mor- 
gens (50 acres) each, which were assigned to the following founders 
who were desirous of making the settlement, and. to most of whom 
patents were afterwards granted : • 

JACQUES CORTELJAU. 

NICASIUS DE SILLE, 

(the Heer Councillor and Fiscaal). 

PETER BUYS. 

JACOB HELLAKERS, alias. 

SWART (Swarthout). 

JONCKHER JACOBUS CORLAER. 

JOHAN TOMASSE (Van Dyck;. 

RUTGER JOESTEN (Van Brunt). 

PIETER ROELEFSEN. 

CORNELIS BEEKMAN. 

In addition to their farms, each settler had a village plot, for a 
residence. 

Of these 20 settlers, Van Brunt is the only one who has male de- 
scendants now residiug in the town, and Corteljau, De Sille, Van 



JOHAN ZEELEN. 

ALBERT ALBERTSE (Terhune). 
WILLEM WILLEMSE (Van Engen). 
HUYBERT STOOCK. 

PIETER JANSEN. 

JAN JACOBSEN. 

JACOBUS BACKER. 

JACOB PETERSE. 

CLAES CLAESSEN (Smit). 
TEUNIS JOOSTEN. 



36 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS . 



Dyck, and perhaps Terhune, are the only ones who have female de- 
scendants among us. 

The village and town was named New Utrecht, after Utrecht in 
Holland, an ancient city on the Rhine, of near 48,000 inhabitants, of 
which place Van Werckhoven held the office of schepen. 

The first house erected therein was a small square one, of clap- 
boards, removed by Jacob Hellakers (who was a carpenter) from 
Gravesend. 

De Sille, Van Brunt, and Peter Buys contracted, in November, 
1657, with Hellakers, to erect for them dwellings. These houses were 
completed in 1658; De Sille’s being 42 Dutch feet (39ft. 63 ^in. En- 
glish) in length, and the first in the town which was covered with tiles. 
This house was the old stone building south-east of the old church 
edifice and burying-ground ; torn down in 1850, and last occupied 
by Barent Wyckoff, who inherited the same from Rutgert W. Van 
Brunt. 

It was, with the surrounding grounds, sold at public vendue on 
the 29th of March, 1674, by Adrian Hegeman of Flatbush, auctioneer, 
by order of Nicholas Bayard, curator, or trustee, of Nicasius De 
Sille and Catrina Croegers, his wife, to Rutgert Joesten Van Brunt — 
the conveyance for which I hold in my hands and exhibit. This con- 
veyance is in a good state of preservation, is three years older than 
the date of the church orgainzation whose anniversary we are now 
celebrating, and is dated only seventeen years after the first settlement 
of this village. 

De Sille was an educated man — unfortunate in his latter days — 
who wrote the early records of this town from its foundation to De- 
cember 15th, 1660, from which I have gleaned much that I give you, 
and whose beautiful penmanship is probably superior to that of any 
one of the assemblage now before me. 

In the war in 1659 with the Esopus, or Kingston Indians, the 
settlers, having the Nyack Indians in their immediate vicinity, and 
fearing a general rising among the Long Island tribes, became alarm- 
ed for their safety. As a place of refuge they fortified De Sille’s 
house by surrounding it with palisades, and kept a strict watch. 

About this period Nicasius de Sille, the Fiscaal of the colony, was 
appointed schout, or sheriff, of the town, and Jan Tomasse (Van 
Dyck) sergeant. 

In 1660, Jan Tomasse (Van Dyck) and Jacobus Van Curler were 
appointed overseers (magistrates) of the town ; at which period there 
appears to have been 1 1 dwelling houses in the village. 






. 

. 



ANNALS OF NEW UTRECHT. 



37 



February 6, 1660, Petrus Stuyvesant, the Director General, and 
the Fiscaal De Sille visited the village, on which occasion the inhabi- 
tants hoisted the Prince’s flag on a high pole in the center of the set- 
tlement, and Rutger Joesten (Van Brunt) gave a public entertain- 
ment. This was the first banquet and flag-raising in the place of 
which we have any account. 

February 23d, 1C60, the Director General and Council ordered 
the village to be enclosed with palisades, a block house to be built 
in the center thereof, and to cut down the trees within gunshot, to 
prevent, in case of attack, the Indians from skulking behind them. 
Also to make provision for a mill and public pound. 

In the same month a general proclamation was issued, ordering 
those who resided in separate dwellings outside the villages to aban- 
don and destroy or unroof them, and to remove to the villages for 
protection. Albert Albertsen (Terhune) who hired the plantation of 
Cornelis Van Werckhoven, for disobeying the order, was fined, on 
the 19th of August, 50 guil., and ordered to stand committed until the 
fine was paid. 

In October of the same year, in consequence of one of the vil- 
lagers having done amiss — to frighten the vicious and encourage the 
virtuous — the Fiscaal furnished a half dozen shackles, with an iron rod 
and good lock. About this date, the Fiscaal, Jan Van Cleef, and 
Titus Syrax — for the accommodation of the inhabitants — bought of 
Jacob Wolfertse Van Couwenhoven, ahorse mill, with its appendages. 

On the 2 2d of December, 1661, a court of justice, consisting of a 
sellout and three commissaries, was appointed for the town, with 
criminal and civil jurisdiction; allowing an appeal in judgments ex- 
ceeding 50 guil. to the Director General and Council. Of this first 
court, Adrian Hegeman, of Flatbush, was appointed schout, and Jan 
Tomasse (Van Dyck), Rutger Joesten (Van Brunt), and Jacob 
Hellakers, commissaries. 

In the year 1663, Thompson, in his History of Long Island, says, 
one of the clergy of New Utrecht was accused of having married him- 
self, while he had another wife living. He alleged, by way of ex- 
cuse, that his first wife had eloped without any just cause, and being 
minded to take another, he considered he had as good a right to exe- 
cute the ceremony for himself as for any other person. This reason- 
ing failed to satisfy the court, who declared the marriage void, and 
fined the delinquent 200 guilden, or 40 beaver skins ; and also 40 guild- 
en more, for his insolence and impertinence to the court. There being 
no clergyman that we have any account of residing at this period in 



38 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 



the town, the delinquent — if there is any truth in the story — may have 
been the schoolmaster. 

In 1663, while Director Stuyvesant and the colony were engaged in 
a new war with the Indians at Esopus, and there was danger of a gen- 
eral rising of the Long Island savages, the English towns on the is- 
land revolted, and endeavored to unite themselves with Connecticut, 
whose people were noted for their efforts to pilfer the territory of their 
Dutch neighbors. An arrangement was finally made with Connect- 
icut, by Stuyvesant, to refer their difhculties to their superiors in Eu- 
rope. Contrary to the arrangement, the towns of “ Hempstede, Gem- 
aco, Newtown, Oysterbay, and Gravesend” entered into a consolida- 
tion, as they termed it, to manage their own affairs, -without the assist- 
ance of Connecticut or New Netherlands. They employed Capt. 
John Scott, an unprincipled adventurer, to act as their president. He 
proclaimed Charles the Second to be their “ dreade sovereign,’ 7 and 
set out, with 70 or 80 horsemen, and 60 or 70 foot, to reduce the 
Dutch towns. He first marched to Breukelen (Brooklyn) ferry, where 
he addressed the wondering inhabitants in English — of which they 
understood not a word — and hoisted the English flag. Here he was 
met by Secretary Van Ruyven, who invited him to drop over and see 
Director Stuyvesant; which he declined, threatening, if Stuyvesant met 
him, he would run his sword through him ; which Van Ruyven said 
would not be a very friendly act. 

After making considerable disturbance among the residents, he 
marched to Midwoud, or Flatbush, where his tumultuous conduct 
was such as to cause the peaceable inhabitants to look on with amaze- 
ment. They next proceeded to New Utrecht, where Scott mounted 
the block house and harangued in English ; but all that the listeners 
could understand was, “ this country and all America, from Virginia 
to Boston, belongs to King Charles.” When in the block house, he 
upset the little cannon and its carriage, which was mounted therein, 
which his men afterwards, by his orders, remounted in another port- 
hole, in the king’s name, which he called the King’s Port, and fired 
a salute. He required the magistrates to submit to the king’s authori- 
ty, which they refused to do ; on which he threatened to punish them. 
An Englishman from Hempstead Plains, in searching for one Matthys 
Pickstaert, entered the house of Rutger Joesten Van Brunt, threaten- 
ing to run through with .a sword Tryntje Claes, his wife, unless the 
man was produced. 

Scott also visited Amersfoort, (Flatlands) ; but all his efforts to 
induce the Dutch towns to acknowledge his “dreade sovereign,” fail-- 



ANNALS OF NEW UTRECHT. 



39 

ed ; they being loyal to their fatherland and not relishing Puritanical 
intolerance or English interference , 

The effect of these outrages was to produce confusion and contin- 
ual bickerings between the Dutch and English settlers, which contin- 
ued until a squadron, under Col. Nicolls, on the 8th- of December, 
1664, made its appearance in the harbor, and, with the assistance of 
forces from New England and the English towns on the Island, in 
the name of the Duke of York conquered the colony. This shameful 
conquest was made at a time of peace between England and Holland, 
and resembles an act of piracy more than an honorable act of war. 
Not satisfied with this, they, crowned their iniquity by selling some of 
the Dutch soldiers who were taken prisoners, as slaves in Virginia. 
In this barbaric act our Puritan neighbors (who where in the habit 
of selling all captured Indians for slaves), may be said to have par- 
ticipated. Two hundred years ago, the ancestors of the men who 
had so holy a horror of negro slavery (which cannot be justified), sold 
not only negroes and Indians, but also white men. If slavery is a 
deadly and unpardonable sin — as lately maintained by some — where 
are the souls of these ancestors now? 

Under the English government, the state was divided into shires 
and ridings, of which the towns of Kings County, Staten Island and 
Newtown, constituted the West Riding of Yorkshire. 

In June, 1665, New Utrecht was directed to furnish 300 palisades, 
13 feet in length — her quota for the defence of the City of New 
York. 

At this date, Beef sold for 2d., Pork for 3^., and Butter for 6 d. per 
pound. Wheat was 5^., Rye 2 s. 6 d ., and Corn 2 s per bushel. Vict- 
uals, 6 d. per meal. Labor, 2 s. 6 d. per day. Lodgings, 2 d. per night. 
Board, 55-. per week. Beer, 2d. per mug. These prices varied but 
little during the next twenty years. 

On the 15th of August, 1 668, Gov. Nicolls issued a patent to the 
town, in the usual form. 

In March, 1672, England and France declared war against the 
Netherlands. On the 23d of July, 1673, during this war, Evertsen and 
Bincks, with a Dutch squadron, arrived in the Lower Bay, and on the 
30th of July, the City of New York and the province were surrendered 
to them, to the great joy of the Dutch settlers, whose experience of 
the English government was not very satisfactoiy. 

Under the new government, Thomas Jansen, Hendrick Matysen 
(Smack), Jan Thomasse (Van Dyck), and Jan Van Deventer were 
appointed schepens of New Utrecht. 



40 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 



On the 29th of August all the men of New Utrecht, 41 in number, 
took the oath of allegiance to the -Netherlands. 

On the 1st of October the Governor General and Council, among 
other instructions, ordered the sheriffs and magistrates of towns to 
“ take care that the Reformed Christian Religion be maintained in 
conformity to the Synod of Dordrecht, without permitting any other 
sects attempting any thing contrary thereto.” 

The colony remained under its Dutch rulers until the 10th of No- 
vember, 1674, when it was finally surrendered unto the English, in 
pursuance of the provisions of the treaty of Westminster. 

In 1675, the dwelling-house of Jaques Corteljau and the greater 
part of the village of New Utrecht were destroyed by fire. On the 1st 
of May of said year, Andross, the English Governor, issued a recom- 
mendation to the magistrates of Brooklyn, to request the people of 
their town to assist Corteljau with one day’s work in rebuilding his 
house, and also to assist his neighbors in the town of New Utrecht in 
their present distress. Fifty scheples of winter wheat and 58 scheples 
of peas were purchased by the justices, of Daniel de Haert, for the 
use of the inhabitants, who probably lost most of their grain by the fire, 
and were in danger of starvation. 

November n, 1779, same dwelling-house (or the one erected 
on its ruins) was again destroyed by fire ; it then being owned by 
Isaac Cortelyou, and the lower part used as a bakery by the 33d British 
Regiment. The fire accidentally occurred in consequence of a 
part of the 71st British Regiment landing some of their sick, and kin- 
dling fires in the building, it being a very windy day. 

About this same period (1675), in consequence of the fear of an 
Indian war — especially on the part of the Long Island Indians — the 
Governor required a strict watch to be kept, suspicious actions on the 
part of the Indians to be reported, and in localities where no block 
house, or stronghold, existed, the same to be erected as a refuge for 
the wives and children of the settlers, and the wives and children of 
the friendly Indians, with whom good faith should be kept. 

In 1679 an d 80, Peter Sluvter and Jasper Dankers, two educated 
and speaking members of a sect known as Labidists — an offsprout from 
the Dutch Reformed Church — visited this country in search of a loca- 
tion to found a colony. Among their fellow passengers were Garret 
(Van Duyn) the rademaaker, or wheelwright, a former residentof New 
Utrecht, and Jan Tuenissen (Van Dueyckhuysen), of the Bay, or 
Flatlands. On the vessel entering the Narrows, it was boarded by 
the Nyack Indians, from a canoe. 



ANNALS OF NEW UTRECHT. 



41 



After spending some days in New York, the travelers, under the 
guidance of Garret the rademaaker, passed through Brooklyn and 
Gowanus to the west end of the Island, called Nyack, where they 
found the plantation of the Nyack Indians, on which there was grow- 
ing maize, or Indian com. They found the whole tribe, consisting 
of seven or eight families, dwelling in one house, about 60 feet long, 
14 or 15 wide, and so low that they could hardly stand up in it — the 
sides and roof being made of reeds and the bark of trees. They had 
domestic animals, such as dogs, poultry, and swine — which they had 
learned from the Europeans how to keep — and had peach trees full of 
fruit. For a more full account of these Indians, I would reter you to 
the Hon. H. C. Murphy’s interesting translation of the journal of 
those Labidists. 

From Nyack the party proceeded to the land of Jacques (Cortel- 
jau), which they found fruitful, and then to his house. They found 
him an old man, who had studied philosophy, a mathematician and 
land surveyor, who spoke Latin and good French ; but the worst of it, 
they said, was his being a Cartesian, a follower of Descartes. 

They went to the village of New Utrecht, a half hour’s walk 
from his house, which was almost entirely rebuilt since the fire, and 
several fine stone buildings erected. They spent the night in Jacques’ 
bam, on some straw spread with sheepskins, and in the midst, they 
said, “ of such a constant grunting of hogs, squealing of pigs, bleat- 
ing and coughing of sheep, barking of dogs, crowing of cocks, cack- 
ling of hens, and especially of such a quantity of fleas — and these with 
the barn doors open, through which a strong north-west wind had 
a passage — that we could not sleep ; but we could not complain, as we 
had the same chamber as his own son usually slept in.” The small- 
pox was at this period raging in the vicinity — two of Jacques’ children 
being prostrated with it in his house — which accounts for their poor 
accommodation. They entered one house where there were two 
children lying dead ; one had been buried the week before, and three 
others were then sick. 

They afterwards visited Do. Van Zuuren, who, they say, was a 
Cocceian, “ a plain, companionable man, who mixed freely with his 
people, and sympathized with them in their labors.” 

On another occasion they met the Dominie at Flatlands, whom they 
found “ chatting and gossiping with the farmers while they talked 
about worldly things, without giving them a single word of reproof, 
or about God, or religious matters. It was all about houses, and cat- 
tle, and hogs, and grain.” The persecution of the Labidists by the 



42 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 



mother church in Holland would naturally tend to cause them to be 
prejudiced against her ministry; hence their unfavorable opinion of 
Van Zuuren. 

On the 13th of October, 1685, at a meeting of the Council, the 
quit rent of New Utrecht was fixed at six bushels of good winter 
wheat, to be delivered in New York. This quit rent continued to be 
paid probably until the Revolution; after which, in 1786, the Super- 
visor of the town paid the State Treasurer ^33 15s. in full for arrears, 
and as a commutation for future quit rents. 

May 13th, 1686, Gov. Dongan granted a new patent to the 
town. In September, 1687, fifty-two individuals — probably all the 
adult males in the town — took the oath of allegiance to the British 
crown. 

The principal business of the farmers was the cultivation of grain 
and tobacco, and the raising of cattle, which required large farms. 
Being straitened for room, in consequence of the increase of their fam- 
ilies, and the arable land in the county being all taken up, at this period 
commenced the emigration from Kings County to the adjoining 
provinces; East New Jersey being the favorite locality, from which 
Monmouth, Somerset and Middlesex counties are filled with the de- 
scendants of our early settlers. 

In those days luxuries had not attained a foothold; a few pewter 
plates and dishes for the table, stools, and benches, a chest or two, 
and bed, and no carpets, constituted the main furniture of their 
houses. Their farms and the surrounding forests and waters furnished 
their food. The fruits, sweets and spices of the tropics were generally 
unknown, and their clothing was mainly the production of their farms, 
manufactured at home. They were noted for their integrity, and in 
their simple habits were as happy and contented, if not more so, than 
we are with all our luxuries. 

On the dethronement of James the Second, and the securing of the 
throne of England by William of Orange and Mary, Nicholson, the 
Governor, who was suspected of being a Papist, fleeing, the mili- 
tia took possession of the City of New York and fortifications, and 
the inhabitants elected a Committee of Safety, who proclaimed Wil- 
liam and Mary, and induced Jacob Leisler to act as Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor. Leisler, having come to the country as a common soldier and 
risen to wealth and distinction by his own efforts, was opposed by the 
aristocratic or old wealthy families, who had been in the habit of as- 
sociating with the titled Governors, and basking in their sunshine. 

The cb untry was thus divided into two factions, who bitteriy op- 



ANNALS OF NE IV UTRECHT, 



43 



posed each other. On the arrival of Governor Sloughter, in March, 
1691, he sided with the aristocratic faction, who were determined on 
the destruction of Leisler. Through their machinations, Leisler and 
many of his adherents were seized and imprisoned, and tried for 
treason. Leisler and his son-in-law Millbourne were found guilty and 
unjustly executed, and their property confiscated — which latter penalty 
was afterwards reversed by the government of the mother country'. 
The court at the same time condemned Myndert Ivorten, of New 
Utrecht, to suffer death and confiscation of property. Korten had 
been one of Leisler’s adherents, and held the office of High Sheriff of 
the county under him. My sympathies, as you perceive, are with 
the followers of Leisler, of whom my ancestor, Michael Hansen Ber- 
gen, was one. Those of Mr. Sutphen, my pastor, appear to be with 
his opponents. 

In July, 1692, Do. Varick, the pastor of the Dutch churches of 
Kings County, and Jacques Corteljau, petitioned the Governor against 
Korten, and requested that Joost De Baene be retained as school- 
master and reader, or prelector, of the church, he having been re- 
moved for refusing to side with Korten and Leisler. 

They accused Korten of leading troops from New Utrecht to the 
fort in New York, for Leisler. Myndert Korten and Gerardus 
Beakman, of Flatbush, after being imprisoned in the City of New 
York more than seventeen months, on petition for pardon, were finally 
released on the 15th of March, 1694, and escaped the doom which 
their enemies desired to impose upon them. 

On the 8th of November, 1692, the Court of Sessions ordered a 
good pair of stocks and a good pound made in every town in Kings 
County. The stocks in New Utrecht, some 50 years ago, were located 
on the southerly side of the main road in the village, nearly op- 
posite to the site of the old district school-house. On one occasion, 
one of the dominies of Flatlands found the missing wheels of his 
wagon fastened in the town stocks. 

At a militia training on the plains, in Flatlands, in 1693, Captain 
Jacques Corteljau being in arms at the head of the New Utrecht 
company, Arian Hageell, of Bushwick, said to the people present, in 
Dutch, u Slaan wy der onder , wy zyn dric tegen een ” — in English, 
“ Let us knock them down ; we are three to they- one.” For these 
seditious words he was tried by the Sessions, and fined twenty shil- 
lings. 

At the Sessions in 1696, the Grand Jury indicted a negro named 
ComeinjJ, belonging to Myndert Korten, for breaking the Sabbath 

















































- 







































44 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 



by ploughing. Comeinj[ confessed his guilt, was fined six shillings, 
and ordered committed to the custody of the sheriff until his fine was 
paid. 

A deputy sheriff being sent to Korten’s to execute the order, Kor- 
ten interposed, locked his doors, protected the offender, and said 
“ he would not obey, neither did he value any of their orders.” This 
being reported to the court, the sheriff was ordered to take Korten 
into custody and hold him until he gave bonds for his good beha- 
vior and appearance at the next Sessions. 

The members representing this town in the Hempstead Assembly 
of 1665, were Jacques Corteljau and Balthazer Vosch, Jun. 

The first constable after the English conquest, on the records, is 
Hendrick Matysen Smack, in 1669. 

The first opziejider, or overseer, of which any account has been 
seen, is Luykes Mayerse, in 1672. 

The first member of the Governor’s Council, a resident of this 
town, is Jacques Corteljau, in 1675 ; who in the same year appears 
to have been the first resident who held the office of justice of the 
peace. 

The office of town clerk was instituted by Gov. Andross, on the 3d 
of May, 1679; but there is no account of any one holding the office 
in this town earlier than Joost de Baene, in 1686. 

The first assessors on the records are Myndert Korten and Jan 
Hansen (Van Nostrand), in 1687. 

The first resident of the town representing the county in the State 
Assembly, was Myndert Korten, in 1698. 

The first resident of the town who was first Judge of the Court of 
Common Pleas of the county, was Comelis Van Brunt, in 1716; 
and the first Assistant Judge was Peter Corteljau, in 1702. 

On the first organization of a Board of Supervisors in the county, 
in 1703, Joost Van Brunt was chosen to represent the town ; previous 
to that dote, the county business was managed by the justices of the 
peace and sessions. 

The first commissioners of highways on the town records are 
Aert Van Pelt and Andries Emans, in 1721. 

Among the deputies sent from the county to the Provincial Con- 
gress of the State of New York in 1775, to oppose British aggression, 
was Denyse Denyse of New Utrecht. 

May 9, 1704, the Court of Sessions ordered “ that no towne laws 
or orders be brought into this court in Dutch, or any other language 
than English.” In 1705, the county expenses w'ere ^146. 12 s. gd. 




























• ' 












ANNALS OF NEW UTRECHT. 



45 



January 19, 1708, Joris Green and Jacobus Woutersen walked 
on the ice from Staten Island to Long Island. This feat has been 
performed in my day by Colonel Church. 

April 26, 1714, Jacques Corteljau petitioned the Governor to be 
excused from serving as constable, to which he had been chosen, in 
consequence of his being unacquainted with the English language. 

At the Court of Sessions of May 10, 1715, the Grand Jury indicted 
Hendrick Hendrickson, Jaques Tunisen (Denyse), Hendrick Emans, 
Wm. Boyle, and George Andresson, of New Utrecht ; John Ver Kerk, 
of Flatbush; Jacob Van Dyck, and Evardus Brower, of Brooklyn; 
Abm. VanTuyle, Jochim Van Ilamen, Barent Marelius, Abm. Mare- 
lius, Abm. Lake, John Lake, Andries Bouman and John Duriand, of 
Staten Island, with other disturbers unknown, to the number of 30 
persons, for assembling in the latter part of June last past, with arms, 
& c., at New Utrecht, assaulting and wounding Joost Van Brunt, so that 
his life was despaired of; also for entering and breaking his close and 
cutting down and carrying away about 30 acres of his corn growing 
on the same. It does not appear what Van Brunt had done to of- 
fend these parties ; but it may have been caused by a dispute in re- 
lation to the shad fisheries. 

From a receipt on the church books, of October 3, 1724, of J. M. 
Sperling for salary, it may be inferred that he was at this date school- 
master of the town and precentor of the church. 

In these modern days, the feat of persons crossing the East River 
on the ice occasionally occurs. In 1752, it was so frozen that a team 
of horses and sleigh passed over. 

In 1760, the share of the town of the county expenses was £7 
2 s . 7 T/yd. 

About this period, a watch was kept at what was known as the 
Beacon, located, as near as can be ascertained, on the high grounds in 
the rear of Fort Hamilton, to give notice of the arrival of vessels — 
an invasion by a French fleet being feared. 

From early in May until November, in 1762, no rain fell on Long 
Island — the most remarkable drought ever known in this country — 
which caused great distress. 

February 2, 1786, the mercury was 24 0 below zero, on Fahrenheit’s 
thermometer. 

Until the Revolution, Dutch as well as English was taught in the 
schools. 

Previous to the Revolution, a large portion of the travel from New 
York to Philadelphia passed through Kings County to Yellow Hook 














. 






■ 





























4 6 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 



and the Narrows, thence by ferries to Staten Island, crossing from 
the latter place to New Jersey, at the Blazing Star, near Rossville. 

The first clergyman who officiated in Kings County was the Rev. 
Theodorus Polhemius. The second — who officiated in all the organ- 
ized county churches — was the Rev. Casparus Van Zuuren, the Rev. 
Henricus Selyns having been previously called to officiate in Brooklyn 
alone. Van Zuuren organized a church in New Utrecht, in October, 
1677 — two hundred years ago — ordaining as elders thereof, Jan 
Gysbertse and Myndert Kcrten, and as deacons, Arien Willemse 
(Bennet) and Jan Hansen (Van Nostrand). 

The first collection for the benefit of the church in New Utrecht, 
of which we have any account, was made in Flatbush in 1677, at 
which 16 guilders — $6.40 — were received. The collection at the 
first preaching in New Utrecht after the organization of the church 
was 27 guil. and 7 stuyvers. 

The temporalities of the church appear to have been managed until 
1722 entirely by the deacons ; and after that date by churchmasters. 
The accounts of the one holding the funds appear to have been annually 
audited, and the balance in his hands passed over to his successor. 

In 1707, 530 guil. — or $212 — were paid for two cups for the 
communion service ; which possibly may be the old silver ones now 
in use. 

At the organization of the church by Do. Van Zuuren, there were 
27 members, who probably were received by Do. Polhemius; and 
during Van Zuuren’s ministry 40 more were added. These comprised 
more than 26 families, of whose male descendants we have at present 
only left Van Nostrands, Van Pelts, Van Cleefs, and Van Brunts. 

On the organization of the church by Do. Van Zuuren, the follow- 
ing residents of the town were communicants, having probably joined 
while Polhemius was in charge : 

Jan Hansen (Van Nostrand) and Marritje, his wife. 

Myndert Kortcn and Maria Praa, his wife. 

Daniel Vorveelen and Alida Schaatz, his wife. Removed to 
Gravesend. 

Jan Gysbertsz (died). 

Wellemje. Removed to Bergen. 

Neeltje. 

Arie (Adriaen) Willemsze Bennet and Agnietje Van Dyck, his wife. 
Removed to Brooklyn. 

Jan Pietersz Van Deventer and Maria, his wife. 

Tryntje Van Dyck. 



ANNALS OF NEW UTRECHT, \ 



47 



Gysbert Tysz Van Pelt and Jannetje Adriaans, his wife. 
Adriaantje. 

Joost Du Wien and Magdalena Du Wien, his wife. Removed to 
Newtown. 

Pieter Veritie. Removed to Staten Island and Bergen. 

Jean Du Pre. Removed to Staten Island and Bergen. 

Nicolaas Du Pre. Removed to Staten Island and Bergen. 
Lourens Jansen and Aaltje Gillis (De Mandeville), his wife. 
Mother of Joost Du Wien. 

Annetje Bocquet. 

Magdalena Van Pelt. 

The following additional persons became members during Do. Van 
Zuuren’s ministry : — 

September, 1677. Adriaantje Jans Van Deventer. 

December, 1677 . — Jan Van Clcef. 

“ “ Kryn Janssen (Van Metcren). 

u “ Hans Harmcnsc (Van Earkeloo) and Willemtje 

(Waermerse), his wife. Removed to 
Bergen. 

August, 1680. — Careljansz Van Dyck and Lysbeth Aard, his 

wife. 

January, 1679. — Henderick Jansz Van Dyck and Jannetje Har- 

mans (Van Barkeloo), his wife. 

June, 1678. — Hendrick Matysen Smack and Grietje Har- 

mans, his wife. 

“ “ Tileman Jacobsz Vander Myen and Tryntje 

Haggaus (widow of Jan Thomase Van 
Dyck). 

March, 1679. — Neeltje Corteljau. 

Pieter Janse Van Deventer. 

Zwaan, the Negro, and Christine, his wife. 
Garret Comelissen ( Van Duyn) of Geele Hook, 
and Jaeomina Jacobs (Swarts), his wife. 
Jan Kierse of Geele Hook, and Hendrikje 
Stephens (Van Voorhees), his wife. 
Engeltie. 

Lawrens Juriaans of Geele Hook, and Kunisa 
(Pieters) of Geele, his wife. 

Jan Jansz Van Dyck and Tryntje Tyssen 
Van Pelt, his wife. 

Jean Clement (of Geele, or Yellow Hook). 



July. 



June. 

July.- 
































































, 




























4 8 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS, 



October, 1681. — Roeief Jansz Verkerck and Catharine Simons 
(of Geele Hook), his wife. 

“ “ Gerret Stoffelsen and Lysbeth Cornells, his wife. 

January, 1682. — Pieter Hardenbroeck (of Geele, or Yellow 
Hook). 

December, " Hendrick Jansz and Gertje Verkerck, his wife. 

“ “ Barendje Verkerck. 

December, 1682. — Jansz Vander Ween and Maatje Comelis, his 
wife. 

“ “ Comelis Wynhard and Ann, his daughter. 

Removed to Hackensack. 

March 23, 1685. — Jan Thysz. 

“ “ Joost Rutgersz (Van Brunt). 

“ “ Comelis Garretz. 

Of the male descendants of these persons, we have left among us 
only Van Nostrands, Van Pelts, Van Cleefs, and Van Brunts — our 
Bennets not being descendants of Adriaen Willemsze. 

At Flatbush was erected the first Reformed Dutch church on Long 
Island; commissioners being appointed for the purpose on the 17th 
of December, 1654, and the building finished in 1660. The second 
was commenced in Idatlands, in 1662 ; the Director General and 
Council assisting them, June 7, 1663, with 250 guil., in beavers. 
The third was commenced in Brooklyn, in 1666. The fourth in New 
Utrecht, in 1700. The fifth in Jamaica, in 1701 or 2. The sixth in 
Bushwick, about 1705. The church in Gravesend (as per Prime’s 
History of Long Island) was commenced in 1700 — but personally I 
have seen no account of the Gravesend Dutch church in the ecclesi- 
astical records earlier than 1714. In 1678, a parsonage was built in 
Flatbush, for Van Zuuren, at a cost of 5,585 guil., or $2,324, of which 
New Utrecht paid 600 guilders. 

The surplus funds of the church appear to have been loaned on 
bonds ; and for purposes of revenue, the early churches of this county 
appear to have owned cows, which were let out to individuals, gen- 
erally at about 12 guil., or $4.80, a year. Fees for burial in the 
body of churches, in church-yards, and the use of the pall, were 
among the sources of revenue. 

To supply the scarcity of religious books, on the 6th of March, 
1679, the deacons of “ Midwoud ” collected 600 guil. ; of 11 Amers- 
foort,” 300 guil. ; and of “ Utrecht ” 200 guil, wampum value ; and, 
in addition, various sums contributed by private individuals ; all of 
which was expended in the importation from the Netherlands, of 






























s 







ANNALS OF NEIV UTRECHT. 



49 



Bibles (in folio and octavo), New Testaments, Psalm-books, Prayer- 
books, Catechisms, ABC books, &c. 

The first church in New Utrecht was erected in 1700. The 
account of the deacons, on the 19th of October, 1699, showed a bal- 
ance in hand of 6,426.51. n st. ; of December of the same year, of 
loans called in and collections, 3,737 gl. : making a total of 10,163 
guil. On the 27th of January, 1701, the balance in the hands of the 
deacons was 2,744 guil., showing a diminution of 7.419 guil., which 
was most probably expended on the new church. Persons were liv- 
ing a few years ago, and may be yet, who recollect having seen the 
figures 1700 cut in one of the stones on its front. There is no ac- 
count left on the church books of the sums paid formatcrials or to in- 
dividuals, or of the total cost of the building. On the 27th of January, 
1701, among the disbursements of that month, on the church books, 
is an entry of 786 guil., or $314.40, paid for a bell — which I suppose 
is the bell at present in use. 

In some of the early churches the dram was beaten to call the 
congregation together. This was the case — it may inferred — at one 
period in Flatlands; for as late as 1683 that church paid twelve guil- 
ders for two skins for the drum. 

The first church in New Utrecht was located in the south-east- 
erly angle of the present burying-ground in the village. It was of 
octagon shape, with side walls of boulders, or field stone, and steep 
shingle roof, surmounted with a belfry and bell over its centre; the 
building somewhat resembling an eight-sided pyramid, or sugar-loaf, 
and ceiled overhead in the interior with boards. On the top of the 
belfry was an iron cross, surmounted by a large cock, cr rooster, 
turning with and facing the wind — which may have been intended 
as a memento of Peter’s changcablcncss in the denial of his Master. 

The road, it is said, at one period, passed around the building so 
as to leave it in the centre, the same as was the case of the old church 
in Brooklyn, and others. 

Tradition says, that during one of the unhappy controversies in 
which the churches were engaged, the Consistory, one Sunday, had 
a violent dispute at the church door; and that on the same afternoon 
a whirlwind struck the building, tearing off the belfry and a part of 
the roof. This was viewed by some as a judgment upon them for 
their bickerings. 

In 1705 there is an entry on the church books of “expended for 
nails and plank, to repair the damages the church received from a 
stroke of lightning, 375 guil., which may have been the occasion 

4 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 



referred to in the tradition ; or it may have been the gust of wind 
which, July Sth, 1798, blew off the top of the steeple. 

The building, when finished — like many of the European churches 
of the present time — had no pews, each person desiring to sit sup- 
plying his own stool ; and that, prior to 1721,110 particular place was 
allotted to any of its attendants. The pulpit was of the shape of an 
octagon elongated half globe, or goblet, perched or elevated on the 
top of a column to a height much greater than the modern ones — of 
sufficient capacity for one individual — and canopied with a sounding- 
board, or cap, on the top or apex of which was a representation of 
Noah’s dove holding an olive branch in its mouth; which identical 
dove — covered with a new coat of gilt — I now hold in my hand, 
and present to your view, lacking the original olive branch, which, 
on account of its frailty, with the lapse of time has disappeared. 

In the church, on the left side of the pulpit (the steps being on the' 
right), hung two small black bags, fastened to two long poles, and 
used by the deacons in making their collections — which have also 
long since disappeared. 

It is said that in consequence of mischievous boys (in modem 
days) dropping old buttons and worthless shells in the bags, to the 
disgust of the worthy deacons, their use was dispensed with, and the 
modern plate, and since the introduction of rag currency — the 
basket substituted. The bags are yet used in some localities. 

In the early days of our churches, the schoolmaster was the voor- 
zanger, or chorister, lector, or reader, and hosier, or sexton of the 
church. Among his other duties was that of reading a chapter out 
of the Bible, between the second and third ringing of the bell, and 
after the third ringing, the Ten Commandments. 

In my youth — some fifty-odd years ago — your speaker recollects 
the reading of the Ten Commandments before the service by old Mr. 
Skillman, the chorister of the Brooklyn church ; and the same prac- 
tice may then have been in vogue in the other churches. 

In 1721, places were assigned for the chairs of the worshippers. 
On each side of the middle aisle — on the right and left of the pul- 
pit — were places provided for 45 women’s chairs; and next to 
the women’s places, and nearer to the door, were 45 chairs on 
each side of the middle aisle, for men. 

.The justices — who were the highest dignitaries of the community — 
were honored with a bench on the right of the pulpit ; and a free bench 
was also provided for strangers. A chart of the church, from which 
the above is taken, does not show any special location for the elders 
















. 

' 





ANNALS OF NEW UTRECHT. 



5 1 

and deacons. A provision was made for new comers, who were to be 
charged 6 guilders for each place. 

It was further ordered, that for every dead person carried on the 
bier and buried in the church, should be paid 1 2 shillings. Buried in 
the church without being carried on the bier, 6 shillings. The interior 
of the church was considered to be the most honorable place of 
interment. This arrangement probably continued in force for many 
years, before pews were introduced. 

In 1774, the church was repaired, and new pews substituted for 
the old ones. In the War of the Revolution, which shortly followed, 
the church was used as a hospital and riding school, by the British, and 
the interior fixtures removed. After the war the church was renova- 
ted and new pews made, at a cost of ^£'529 m. nd. 

The church of New Utrecht, in 1700, or thereabouts, appears to 
have owned the site it occupied, with the surrounding burying-ground, 
and an adjoining large plot containing an orchard, in addition. It 
afterwards owned the ground it at present occupies, with about 30 
acres of adjoining land. These premises the church parted with, a 
portion for the establishment of an academy — which finally proved to 
be a failure — and afterwards, for a site for the present church edifice, 
the Consistory repurchased the plot now occupied. On the division of 
the common lands, in 1719, two wood lots were allotted to the church, 
which were afterwards, in 1746, sold. The present parsonage and 
adjoining land, which has been sold, was purchased of John Blake, 
about the period of the call of the Rev. John Beatty to the pastorate of 
the church, and is the first and only premises used by the congregation 
for said purposes. 

In 182^, the old church was torn down. In August of the same 
year, the present church edifice was commenced, and finished in De- 
cember, 1829. 

Had I time, many additional items of interest might be set forth ; 
but that allotted to me having expired, I will close by stating that the 
reputation of the departed and present residents of this town is as fair as 
those of their neighbors ; and that among them have been divines, 
jurists, legislators, physicians, and citizens, who will compare favor- 
ably with any they can boast of. 

And further, in the language of the fatherland, I will state, dat 
alhcewcl in bevolking ende vermoorheid , zay ben nict gelyk onze inoedcr 
Utrecht in Holland , ende mischicn nooit zuil ; nog het is onze pligt to 
gebndk de derfgd, ende Jiavolgcn de vaderlandsch-gezuidheid van onze 
vaders , zoo a Is to onderhouden hier na 1 als en voorige tyden , de goede 
naam van onze plaatsclyk. 











. 






■ 















' 





















_ 



























LIST OF' ELDERS AND DEACONS 



IN THE 

Protestant Reformed Dutch Church 

Of New Utrecht, L. I. 



The Church Boohs show a perfect list from 1789; previous to which 
an imperfect list has been formed from names gathered from loose 
papers and irregular entries , c re. 

T. G. BERGEN. 



ELDERS. 



Jan Gysbertsz 


1677, 8 


Myndcrt Korten 


1677, 8 


Daniel Verveelen 


1678, 9 


Jan Hansen (Van Noostrand) 


1 6 78, So 


Arian Willemsz (Bennet) 


16S0, 1 


Myndert Korten 


1681, 2 



Gerret Cornelissen (Van Duyn) 16S2, 3 
Jan Hansen (Van Noostrand) 16S3, 4 
Kryn Janssen Van Metercn 1684 

Jan Jansz Van Dyck 16S4, 5 

Jan Hansen (Van Noostrand) 1685 

Gysbrecht Thysz (Lanen Van Pelt) “ 
Gysbrecht Thysz (Lanen Van Pelt) 1695 
Corel Van Dyck “ 



1701 



DEACONS. 



Arian 'Williemsz (Bonnet) 1677 

Jan Hansen (Van Noostrand) 1677, 8 
Hans Harmensz (Van Borkelo) 167S, 9 
Jan Pietcrsz Van Deventer 1679, 80 
Jan Jansz Van Dyck 16S0, 1 

Kryn Janssen Van Meteren 16S1, 2 
Hans Harmensz (Van Borkelo) “ “ 

Jan Van Deventer “ “ 

Hendrick Van Dyck 16S2 

Gysbrecht Thysz Lanen (Van Pelt) 16S3 
Jan Pietersz Van Deventer 16S4, 5 
Jan Van Deventer 10S7 

Gerret Cornelissen (Van Duyn) 16S9 
Derick Janse Van Sutphen 1694 

Joost Van Brunt 1695 

Cornelis Van Brunt 1695 

Jaques Cortelyou 1696 

Peter Van Deventer 1697 

Joost Van Brunt 169S 

Denys Tuenessen 1702 



Jan Van Dyck 



54 



APPENDIX. 



ELDEKS. DEACONS. 



Jaques Cortelyou 


1701, 2 


Joost Van Brunt 1706, 1710 

Aurt Van Pelt 1707 

Albert Coerten (Van Voorhees) “ 

Jacobus Auckes (Van Nuyse) 1710 

Hendrick Jansen 1 71 1 

Jan Van Dyck, Jun. “ 

Anthony Van Pelt 1711, 12 

Johannes Swart 1713 

Jacob Van Zutvin “ 

Willem Van der Ryp 1715 


Cornells Van Erunt 


I 7 I 5 » 16 


Tomas Fardon 


44 


Pieter Cortelyou 
Jacob Van Zutvin 


1715 


Rutgert Van Brunt 


3716 


Cornelis Van Brunt 


1717 


Wyllem Van Nuys 


1717, 1 8 


Jacob Van Zutvin 


a 


Tomas Fardon 


44 44 


Johannes Swart 


171s 


Coort Van Voorhies 


1717 


Joost Van Erunt 


171S, 19 


Willem Van der Ryp 


171S, 19 


Jaques Cortelyou 


(( C 6 


Sami. Groenendyck 


1718, 19, 20 


Albert Coertcn (Van Voorhies) “ “ 


Rutgert Van Erunt* 


1 720, 2 1 


Scgcr Gcrretse 


1719, 20, 21 


Hendrick llcndrickse 


1720 


Wyllem Van Nuys 


U 44 (4 


Rutgert Van Erunt 


1721 


Cornelis Van Erunt 


44 44 44 


Cocrt Albertse (Van Voorhies) 1721, 22 


Joost Van Erunt* 


1720, 21, 22 


Ilendrik Suydain 


1721 


Jan Van Dyck 
Jaques Cortelyou 
Wyllem Van Nuys 


et a a 

1722 

a 


Aucke Van Nuys 


1722, 23 


Albert Coertcn ( Y r an 


Voorhies) 1722, 3 


Jan Van Tclt 


1724, 25 


Hendrick 1 1 endrickse 1 723 

Samuel Groencndyck 1724,5 


Nicolaes Van Brunt 


44 44 


Albert Coertcn (Van 


Voorhies) 1 724 


James Spencer 


1725, 6 


Cornelis Van Erunt 


1724, 5, 6 


Machiel Van der Veer 


44 44 


Pieter Cortelyou 


5 


Willem Fardon 


1726 


Andries Einans 


1725, 6, 7 


Rutgert Van Brunt 


1727 


Rutgert Van Erunt 


1726, 7, S 


Jan Van Pelt 


1728, 9 


Wyllem Van Nuys 
Sami. Groenendyck 
Cornelis Van Erunt 


44 44 44 

172S, 9, 30 
I 729 . 30 » 31 


Machiel Van der Veer 


1729 

/ 


Pieter Corteylou 


1730 


Gerret Van Duyn 


1732, 3 


Willem Fardon 


*733 


Nicolaes Van Erunt 


T 733 > 4 > 5 


Rutgert Van Brunt 


1 733 » 4 , 5 . 6, 7, 8 


Jan Van Pelt 


I 733 > 4 


Albert Coerten (Van 


Voorhies) 1733, 4, 
5* 6, 7, 8 


Cristoffel Hoogland 


1734 , 5 


Sami. Groenendyck 


* 733 > 4 > 5 


Machiel Van der Veer 


1 735 , 6 


Cornelis Van Brunt 


1 735 » 6 


Harmancs Barkcloo 


44 44 


Jan Van Pelt 


1 735 > 6 , 7 


Gerret Van Duyn 


1737 , 8 



•There \v$r$ fcyvq Rutgert Van Brunts, at times both Elders and Deacons in the same year. 



APPENDIX. 



55 



ELDERS. DEACONS. * 



Joost Van Brunt 


I 73 s > 9 


Tomas Van Dyck 


1737 , 8 


Wyllem Van Nuys 


44 ii 


Cristofi'el Hoogland 


*4 4 4 


Rutgert Van Brunt 1740, 


i» 2, 4 . 5 * 6 


Nicolacs Van Brunt 


i 739 > 40 


Albert Coerten (Van Voorhies) 1741 


Myndcrt Janse 


1741, 2 


Wyllem Van Nuys 


1742, 3 


Tomas Van Dyck 


1740, 1 


Jan Van Pelt 


1742 


Hendrik Suydam 


1740 


Albert Coerten (Van Voorhies) 1743 


Gerret Van Duyn 


1741, 2 


Gcrrct Van Duyn 


1744 , 5 


Joris Lott 


1742, 3 


Nicalues Couwenhoven 


1744 


Tomas Van Dyck 


* 743 > 4 > 5 


Wilhclmus Van Brunt 


“ 


Nicolacs Van Brunt * 


“ “ “ 


Hendrick Janse 


1746 


Joris Lott 


I 74 b, 7 


Rutgcrt Van Brunt 


1746, 7, 8, 9 


Andries limans 


44 44 


Gerret Van Duyn 


I 74 b, 7 


Jacobes Van Nuys 


44 44 


Rutgcrt Van Brunt 


1752 


Tomas Van Dyck 


* 747 > 8 


Hendrick Janse 


“ 


Harmanes Barkcloo 


174S 






Tomas Van Dyck 


1 75 7 » 8 






Jacobes Van Nuys 


1758 






Evert Suydam 


1758 , 9 


Wyllem Van Nuys 


1760, 1 


Jan Jansen 


1759, 60 


Gerret Van Duyn 


1760, 1, 2 


Garret Couwenhoven 


44 44 


John Johnson 


1761, 2 


William Van Brunt 


1760, I, 2, 3 






Jacobes Van Nuys 


44 44 44 44 






Joris Lott 


1762 






Adriaen Van Brunt 


1763. 4, 5 






Jacques Denyse 


I 7 b 3 ’ 4 






Stephen Lott 


1765 






Albert Van Brunt 


I 7 b 4 , 5 






Wilhclmus Van Nuys 


1766, 7, S, 9 






Jaqucs Denyse 


1 7 - 7 , 8. 9 






Adriaen Van Brunt 1 


766, 7, 8, 70, 71 






John Barre 


* 7 b 9 » 70 






Peter Van Dcr Bilt 


1770, i 






Isaac Cortelyou 


1771, 2, 3, 4 






Casper Crapscr 


1772 , 3 






Nicholas Couwenhoven 


44 44 

/ 






Peter Muerenbildt 


1 773 * 4 






John Bonnet 


1774 , 5 






Isaac Cortelyou 


44 44 






John Barre 


* 774 * 5 > 6 




» 


Peter Van Pelt 


1775 


Nicholas Couwenhoven 


i 77 b, 7 


Harmon Cropsy 


1775 . b, 7 


John Johnson 


“ “ 


Peter Van Dor Bilt 


1776, 1781, 2 






Casper Crapser 


1777 


Garret Couwenhoven 


1781, 2 






Isaac Cortelyou 


44 ii 


Harmon Cropsy 


1781, 2 






John Bennet 


44 44 






William Cropsy 


1782 






Peter Muerenbildt 


44 



APPENDIX. 



& 



ELDERS. DEACONS. 



Nicholas Couwenhoven 


17S9 


John Bennet 


17S9 


Denyse Dcnyse 


“ 


John Verkerk Van Nuys 




Simon Cortclyou 


tt 


William Barre 


it 


Peter Van Der Bilt 


a 


Tunis Suydam 


it 


Adrian Hegcman 


1792 


Isaac Cortelyou 


1792 


Johannes Cowenhoven 


44 


William Van Nuys 


“ 


Fornant J ohnson 


“ 


Jechobas Bennet 


it 


Abraham Duryee 


“ 


Rutgert Van Brunt (son 


of Albert) “ 


William Barre 


1795 


Peter Van Pelt 


1795 


William Cropsy 


it 


Engelbert Lott 


it 


Adrian Hageman 


1 / 95 - 6 


Rutgert Van Brunt 


> 795.6 


Tunis Suydam 


1795 


Jacobus Van Nuys 


44 4 4 


Abraliam Duryee 


> 79 6 » 7 


Rutgert A*. Van Brunt 


1796 , 7 


Fornant Johnson 


1796 


William Van Nuys 


1796 


Peter Van Der Bilt 


1797, s 


William W. Van Nuys 


>797 


Ram Van Pelt 


a a 


Thomas Hegcman 


> 797 . 3 


Denyse Denyse 


1798, 9 


Jacobus Cropsy 


179S 


Jechobas Bennet 


1798 


Nicholas Van Brunt 


>798, 9 






Peter Van Pelt 


179S 


Aurt Van Pelt 


1799, iSco 


Engelbert Lott 


1799, 1800 


Johannes Cowenhoven 


“ “ 


Jacques I. Denyse 


it it 


Simon Cortelyou 


1800, 1 


Rutgert Van Brunt 


1800 


John B_nnet 


1800 


Jacobus Van Nuys 


iSco, 1 


Wm. Barre 


1801, 2 


Rutgert A. Van Brunt 


1801, 2 


John Verkerk Van Nuys 


“ “ 


Wineant Bennet 


44 44 


Adrian Hageman 


1802, 3 


Han nanus Bennet 


1802, 3 


Tunis Suydam 


it it 


Peter Van Pelt 


“ “ 


Abraham Duryee 


ro 

O 

CO 


John Bennet, Jun. 


1803, 4 


Ram Van Pelt 


a a 


Thomas Hegcman 


44 44 


Fornant Johnson 


1804, 5 


Jacobus Van Nuys 


1 804, 5 


William Cropsy 


“ “ 


Jacques I. Denyse 


44 44 


Aurt Van Pelt 


1805, 6 


Engelbert Lott 


1805, 6 


Jechobas Bennet 


44 a 


Jacobus Cropsy 


44 44 


Simon Cortclyou 


1806, 7 


Rutgert A. Van Brunt 


1S06, 7 


Johannes Cowenhoven 


a a 


George A. Duryee 


44 44 


Wm. Barre 


1807 


Denyse I. Denyse 


1807 


Rutgert Van Brunt 


a 


Valentine Cropsy 


44 


Simon Cortclyou 


*1809 


Valentine Cropsy 


1809 


Johannes Cowenhoven 


<( 


Tcunis T. Bergen 


✓ «« 


Jaques I. Denyse 


1809, 10 


Thomas liegeman 


1809, 10 


Abraham Duryee 


1810, 11 


Albert Van Brunt 


1810 


Wm. W. Van Nuys 


it a 


Albert I. Van Brunt 


1S10, 11 






Peter S. Cortclyou 


44 44 


Engelbert Lott 


1811, 12 


Andrew Emmans 


1811, 12 


Jacobus Cropsy 


a a 


Jaques Van Brunt 


l8ll 


Valentine Cropsy 


1812, 13 


Christopher Bennet, Jun. 


1812 



No record of a new Consistory having been ordained in iGo9. 



APPENDIX . 



57 



ELDERS. DEACONS. 



Teunis Suydam 


1812, 13 


Thomas Turnbull 
Harmanus H. Barkuloo 


1812, 13 

44 44 


Winant Bennet 


1813, 14 


Tliomas Smith 


1813, 14 


Tliomas liegeman 


44 ii 


Henry Cropsy 


44 44 


Simon Cortclyou 


1814, 15 


John R. Sncdcker 


1814, 15 


Ram Van Pelt 


ii ii 


Jacobus Denyse 


1S15 


Wm. Ear re 


1815, 16 


Albert Van Brunt 


1815, 16 


Rutgert Van Brunt 


ii ii 


John Bennet 


44 44 


Johannes Cowenhoven 


1816, 17 


Garret Cowenhoven 


1816, 17 


Jaques I. Denyse 


ii ii 


Peter S. Cortclyou 


44 44 


Aurt Van Pelt 


CO 

00 


Albert I. Van Brunt 


1817, 18 


Jacobus Cropsy 


ii ii 


Jacob Van Pelt 


“ “ 


Valentine Cropsy 


1818, 19 


Simon Cortclyou, Jun. 


1S18, 19 


Denyse I. Denyse 


a a 


Thomas Turnbull 


44 44 


Winant Bennet 


1819, 20 


John L. LcfTerts 


1819, 20 


Engelbert Lott 


a a 


Jacobus Denyse 


44 44 


Simon Cortelyou 


1820, 1 


Garret Cowenhoven 


1820, 1 


Tunis Suydam 


<< u 


William Bennet 


44 44 


Thomas Smith 


1821, 2 


John Bennet 


1821, 2 


Albert I. Van Brunt 


a a 


James Cropsey 


44 44 


Valentine Cropsy 


1822, 3 


Simon Cortelyou, Jun. 


1822, 3 


Johannes C(>wenlioven 


ii a 


Tliomas Turnbull 


44 44 


Aurt Van Pelt 


1823, 4 


James Cropsey 


1823, 4 


Rutgert Van Brunt 


44 44 


James D. Denyse 


44 44 


William Bennet 


1824, 5 


James Denyse 


1824, 5 


Garret Cowenhoven 


44 44 


John E. Lott 


44 44 






John Carpenter 


<4 44 


Winant Bennet 


1825, 6 


Evert Suydam 


1825, 6 


Engelbert Lott 


44 44 


Andrew Emmans 


44 44 


Tunis Suydam 


1826, 7 


Garret I. Cowenhoven 


1826, 7 


William Bennet 


1826, 7 


Jacob Van Pelt 


1826, 7 


Gilbert Smith 


1827, 8 


Jonathan B. Horton 


1827, 8 


Thomas Hcgeman 


ti 44 


William W. Cropsey 


44 44 


Aurt Van Pelt 


182S 


Garret I. Cowenhoven 


1828 


Garret Cowenhoven 


1829, 30 


James Cropsey 


182S, 29, 30, 31 


Thomas Turnbull 


1829, 30, 31 


Evert Suydam 


1829, 30, 31 


Wm. Bennet 


44 44 44 


John E. Lott 


1829, 30 


Winant Bennet 


1829, 30 


Bernardus Hendrickson 


1S30, 31 


Engelbert Lott 


1831 


John Carpenter 


" 1831, 2 


Denyse I. Denyse 
Andrew Emmans 


1831, 2 
1832 


Lambert Suydam 




Wm. Bennet 


•83:. 3 


Adrian Bergen 


. i8 3 -. 3 


Garret Cowenhoven 


44 44 


Jacob Beckman 


“ “ 


Thomas Turnbull 


1833, 4 


John E. Lott 


1833, 4 


James Cropsey 


44 44 


John Hageman 


44 44 


Winant Bennet 


1834, 5 


Lambert Suydam 


1834 


Evert Suydam 


ii 44 


Adrian Bergen 


1834, 5 


Garret Cowenhoven. 


1835. 6 


William Barkeloo 


1835, 6 


Jacob Beekmaa 


1835 


Wm. W. Cropsey 


(4 44 



APPENDIX. 



5 8 



ELDERS. 



John E. Lott 


1836 , 7 


Denyse I. Denyse 


1836 


Wm. Bcnnet 


1836 , 7 


Thomas Turnbull 


CO 

•■O 

CO 


John Carpenter 


44 44 


James Cropsey 


1838 , 9 


Wm. Barkeloo 


ii 44 



Garret Cowenhoven 


1839 


John Carpenter 


1839, 40 


John E. Lott 


1840, 41 


Evert Suydam 


<< a 


Wm. Bcnnet 


a a 


Thomas Turnbull 


1841, 2 


John L. Van Pelt 


184 2,3 


John E. Lott 


1842 


Winant I. Bcnnet 


1842, 3 


Win. G. Verity 


1843, 4 


Wm. Barkeloo 


1844, 5 


Adrian Bergen 


1S44 


James Cropsey 


1844. 5 


John Carpenter 


1845, 6 


John E. Lott 


44 44 


Wm. Barkeloo 


1846, 7 


Charles Lott 


44 44 


Adrian Bergen 


1847, 8 


Adrian T. liegeman 


44 44 


Wm. G. Verity 


1848, 9 


George Pool 


44 44 


Wm. Barkeloo 


1849, 50 


John E. Lott 


44 44 


James Cropsey 


1850, 1 


Charles Lott 


44 44 


Wm. Barkeloo 


N 

►H 

«-0 

00 


Evert Suydam 


1851 


John Carpenter 


1852, 3, 4 


John L. Van Pelt 


1852, 3 


Adrian Bergen 


44 44 


George Pool 


1853, 4 


James Cropsey 


1854, 5 


Wm. G. Verity 


a a 


Jeremiah E. Lott 


1855, 6 


Charles Lott 


44 44 


John L. Van Pelt 


1856, 7 


Wm. Barkeloo 


44 44 


John E. Lott 


1857, 8 


Tcunis Bergen 


1857,8 


Win. G. Verity 


1858, 9 



DEACONS. 



William G. Verity 


1835, 6 


Jacob Bennet 


1836 


Christopher C. Bennet 


1837, s 


Garret W. Cropsey 


44 44 


Wm. W. Cropsey 


1837 


Wm. Barkeloo 


44 


John L. Van Pelt 


1838, 9 


Adrian T. Hegeman 


44 44 


Winant I. Bennet 


1839, 40 


Jeremiah E. Lott 


44 44 


Wm. G. Verity 


1840, 41 


Adrian Bergen 


44 44 


Garret W. Cropsey 


1841, 2 


John J. Bcnnet 


44 44 


Adrian T. Hegeman 


1842, 3 


Charles Lott 


44 44 


George Pool 


1843, 4 


Jeremiah E. Lott 


44 44 


Teunis Bergen 


1844, 5 


William Stoothoff 


“ “ 


John C. Bennet 


1845, 6 


Richard Ran 


“ “ 


George Pool 


1846, 7 


Peter Rougct 


44 44 


Jaques Bragaw 


1847, 8 


Jeremiah E. Lott 


44 44 


John J. Bennet 


1848, 9 


Jacobus I. Voorhees 


“ “ 


Tcunis Bergen 


1849, 50 


Garret W. Cropsey 


“ “ 


Jacob Hendricksen 


1850, 1 


Richard Ran 


44 44 


Jeremiah E. Lott 


1851, 2 


John Bragaw 


44 44 


Jacobus I. Voorhees 


1S52, 3 


Jaques Bragaw 


44 44 


John J. Bennet 


. 1853 , 4 


Teunis Bergen 


44 44 


Garret W. Cropsey 


1854, 5 


Richard Ran ^ 


44 44 


Robert Waters 


1855, 6 


John V. N. Bergen 


44 44 


Christopher Prince 


1856, 7 


Aaron Lott 


44 44 


Robert Waters 


1857, 8 


Jaques Van Brunt . 


1857, 8 


Cornelius Cozine 


1857, 8 















j)Jl vo fo 















■